Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Nov 26, 2023; 15(11): 582-598
Published online Nov 26, 2023. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v15.i11.582
Novel predictors of permanent pacemaker implantation following transcatheter aortic valve replacement
Somto Nwaedozie, Haibin Zhang, Javad Najjar Mojarrab, Param Sharma, Paul Yeung, Peter Umukoro, Deepa Soodi, Rachel Gabor, Kelley Anderson, Romel Garcia-Montilla
Somto Nwaedozie, Param Sharma, Deepa Soodi, Kelley Anderson, Department of Cardiovascular Disease, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI 54449, United States
Haibin Zhang, Hospitalist Medicine, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI 54449, United States
Javad Najjar Mojarrab, Department of Nephrology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI 48202, United States
Paul Yeung, Department of Hospital Medicine, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI 54449, United States
Peter Umukoro, Department of Nephrology, Hendricks Regional Health, Danville, IN 46122, United States
Rachel Gabor, Clinical Research Center, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI 54449, United States
Romel Garcia-Montilla, Department of Trauma Surgery and Surgical Critical Care, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI 54449, United States
Author contributions: Nwaedozie S and Garcia-Montilla R designed the research study; Zhang H and Najjar Mojarrab J assisted in the data abstraction; Gabor R did the data analysis; Sharma P, Yeung P, Umukoro P, Anderson K, and Soodi D reviewed and edited the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. Re: IRB#: IRB-20-721, MCR Code: NWA10120.
Informed consent statement: The requirement to obtain authorization is waived. The waiver is for the specific PHI and uses/disclosures described in your waiver request. Any change to the type of PHI to be collected, used or shared, or to the uses and disclosures described in the waiver request, require prior IRB approval.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Somto Nwaedozie, MD, Research Fellow, Department of Cardiovascular Disease, Marshfield Clinic, 621 W Upham, Marshfield, WI 54449, United States. nwaedozie.somto@marshfieldclinic.org
Received: May 17, 2023
Peer-review started: May 17, 2023
First decision: July 19, 2023
Revised: August 18, 2023
Accepted: October 17, 2023
Article in press: October 17, 2023
Published online: November 26, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Conduction abnormalities requiring permanent pacemakers (PPM) are short-term complications following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and their clinical outcomes remain conflicting. Potential novel predictors of post-TAVR PPM, like QRS duration, QTc prolongation, and supraventricular arrhythmias, have been poorly studied.

Research motivation

The evaluation of novel predictors of PPM placement post TAVR light nonspecific interventricular conduction defect, will enhance clinical decision making prior to the TAVR procedure, assist in patient pacemaker risk evaluation, and further refine the indications of pacemaker placement.

Research objectives

To determine the timing, incidence and novel predictors of PPM implantation post TAVR. To evaluate and compare clinical outcomes of length of hospitalization, heart failure (HF) hospitalization, myocardial infarction (MI) and cardiovascular death post TAVR between patients requiring permanent pacemaker implantation and others without pacemaker at 1 year post TAVR procedure.

Research methods

A retrospective cohort study that identified patients with TAVR between January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2019. The cohort was divides into those with post-TAVR PPM and those without PPM. Both groups were followed for one year.

Research results

Of 357 patients that met inclusion criteria, the mean age was 80 years, 188 (52.7%) were male, and 57 (16%) had a PPM implantation. Baseline demographics, valve type, and cardiovascular risk factors were similar except for type II diabetes mellitus (DM), which was more prevalent in the PPM cohort (59.6% vs 40.7%; P = 0.009). The PPM cohort had a significantly higher rate of pre-procedure right bundle branch block, prolonged QRS > 120 ms, prolonged QTc > 470 ms, and supraventricular arrhythmias. There was a consistently significant increase in the odds ratio (OR) of PPM implantation for every 20 ms increase in the QRS duration above 100 ms: QRS 101-120 (OR: 2.44; CI: 1.14-5.25; P = 0.022), QRS 121-140 (OR: 3.25; CI: 1.32-7.98; P = 0.010), QRS 141-160 (OR: 6.98; CI: 3.10-15.61; P < 0.001). After model adjustment for baseline risk factors, the OR remained significant for type II DM and QRS > 120. The PPM cohort had a higher OR of HF hospitalization and nonfatal MI without any difference in mortality (aOR: 1.1; CI: 0.5-2.7; P = 0.796) at one year.

Research conclusions

Pre-TAVR type II DM and QRS duration > 120, regardless of the presence of bundle branch blocks, are predictors of post-TAVR PPM. Post-TAVR, patients with PPM implantation may have higher odds of HF hospitalization and non-fatal MI at 1 year.

Research perspectives

In light of the expanded indication of TAVR to involve lower risk patients and the clinical impact of PPM implantation, risk assessment using the predictors outlined in the study will help optimize pre-procedural risk stratification. Further larger multicenter studies will be needed to further investigate the impact of this number predictors and post-TAVR pacemaker requirement.