Mortality While Waiting for Aortic Valve Replacement

The authors explored the impact of wait time for AVR in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis using a single institution database.  For patients who were recommended to undergo AVR, wait time mortality at 3 weeks was 1.2% for those scheduled for AVR and 6.9% for those who declined AVR.  Wait time mortality for pts undergoing AVR was 3.7% at 3 mos and 11.6% at 6 mos.  Prolonged wait time mortality was higher than surgical mortality.