In Aortic Stenosis TAVR leads to significantly shorter hospital stay than SAVR

TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) for aortic stenosis is associated with a significantly shorter length of hospital stay and fewer chances of getting transferred to a skilling nursing facility compared to SAVR (surgical aortic valve replacement).

These are the findings of a new study published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.

For many years, surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) has been considered the standard of care for older adults with aortic stenosis. In recent years, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has increasingly gained acceptance as a less-invasive treatment option.

But how does TAVR compare to SAVR when it comes to the metrics of the average length of stay (LOS) in the hospital and discharge to home versus discharge to a skilled nursing facility? A new study by John P. Vavalle, Division of Cardiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and colleagues conducted the study to investigate the differences between resource utilization for TAVR and SAVR.

For the study, the authors analyzed hospitalizations data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database for more than 13,000 adults aged 50 or older who underwent either TAVR or SAVR between 2012 and 2015.

Key Findings:

• The average length of stay declined among both groups of patients, but there was a significantly greater reduction among TAVR patients.


• The percentage of TAVR patients who were being discharged to home/home health care increased from 67.7 percent to 77.4 percent.


• The percentage of TAVR patients who were being transferred to skilled nursing facilities decreased from 27.1 percent to 20.7 percent.


• In-hospital mortality of TAVR patients decreased from 4.2 percent to 1.6 percent.

Overall, patients who underwent TAVR had a significantly shorter length of stay and were significantly less likely to be transferred to a skilling nursing facility compared to patients who underwent SAVR.

"From 2012 to 2015, there was a substantial decrease in LOS and an increase in the proportion of home discharges during the same time period among patients undergoing TAVR. In addition, high-risk patients had a significantly shorter LOS when undergoing TAVR, were more likely to be discharged home, and were less likely to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility, compared to if they had undergone SAVR," concluded the authors.

For further reference follow the link: https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCINTERVENTIONS.118.006929