Ultra-rapid outpatient treatment of patients with severe aortic stenosis presenting with acute valve syndrome: evaluation of a novel pathway for urgent TAVI.

BACKGROUND: Up to 30% of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) have presented to hospital with acute decompensation of aortic stenosis (acute valve syndrome, (AVS)). Such patients conventionally undergo inpatient work-up and treatment by TAVI, associated with prolonged hospital stays, deconditioning and delayed recovery. This study aimed to evaluate the impact and feasibility of an ultra-rapid outpatient pathway for selected, stabilised AVS patients undergoing treatment by TAVI. METHODS: This single-centre cohort study with preimplementation and postimplementation comparison included consecutive AVS patients referred for TAVI over 6 months pre-pathway implementation and 12 months post-pathway implementation. Those meeting prespecified criteria were discharged home for completion of work-up and treatment by TAVI within 2 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was length of hospital stay. The primary safety endpoint was death or acute decompensation prior to TAVI. RESULTS: 183 patients were included, of which 105 were evaluated for outpatient treatment after ultra-rapid pathway introduction. 58/105 (55.2%) met criteria for outpatient treatment, the remaining 47/105 (44.8%) were managed as inpatients. There was no significant difference in demographic or echocardiographic characteristics between management pathways. Patients treated as an outpatient had a shorter median total length of hospital stay (outpatient 12 days (IQR 7-17) vs inpatient 20 days (IQR 15-32), p<0.0001), saving an estimated 210 hospital bed-days. There was no significant difference in median time from referral to TAVI (outpatient 15 days (IQR 13-20) vs inpatient 14 days (IQR 10-18), p=0.22), nor in the incidence of the safety endpoint prior to TAVI between pathways (outpatient 6.9% vs inpatient 6.4%, HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.22 to 4.34, p=0.97), or after new pathway implementation (pre-pathway 6.7%, post-pathway 6.7%, HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.17 to 2.80, p=0.61). CONCLUSIONS: An ultra-rapid outpatient pathway for selected AVS patients undergoing treatment by TAVI can successfully reduce total length of hospital stay. Further work is required to validate this approach.