Comparison of the effectiveness of TAVI in patients with stenotic bicuspid versus tricuspid aortic valves (from the German TAVI Registry)

Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) has been considered as a relative contraindication for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in aortic valve stenosis. In this retrospective study of the German TAVI registry, the authors have compared outcomes in patients with bicuspid and tricuspid aortic valves (TAV). Out of the 1424 patients included in the registry, 38 had bicuspid aortic valves. After TAVI, the incidence of significant aortic regurgitation (≥II) was significantly higher in patients with BAV (25 vs 15%). Interestingly, the need for pacemaker implantation was higher in patients with TAV (35 vs 17%). There was no difference in 30 day mortality and BAV was not found to be associated with 1-year mortality in the univariate and Cox regression analysis. Although the findings are interesting, they should be interpreted with caution because of the nature of the study.