Moderate sedation linked to better outcomes than general anesthesia for TAVR

Editor's Note

The use of moderate sedation leads to better outcomes than general anesthesia for patients having transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), finds a study presented May 6 at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Of 10,997 patients included in the study, 1,737 received moderate sedation and the rest received general anesthesia. Both groups of patients had nearly equal rates of TAVR procedural success; however, moderate sedation patients had lower rates of 30-day mortality (2.92% vs 4.08%), 30-day mortality or stroke (4.8% vs 6.4%), and shorter hospital stays (6.0 vs 6.7 days).

A shift to moderate sedation could have profound implications for care pathways, costs, and the future of TAVR, the authors say.

Orlando, Fla. - The largest observational study of percutaneous transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) demonstrated that moderate sedation use is associated with improved patient outcomes, including lower 30-day mortality and shorter hospital stays, as compared to traditional general anesthesia.