Does the establishment of a local TAVI clinic reduce time from referral to TAVI in patients referred from non-tertiary centres?
Establishing a local TAVI clinic at a non-tertiary center significantly reduces referral-to-treatment time and aortic stenosis-related hospitalizations.
Introduction: Delays to transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) carry significant morbidity and mortality, with patients referred from non-tertiary centres experiencing significantly longer waiting times. Methods: A local TAVI clinic was established in January 2024. Data were collected from 2021 to 2024. The primary outcome was time from referral to TAVI. Comparisons were made between our centre, the tertiary centre, another referring centre with a dedicated TAVI pathway, and centres without dedicated clinics. Secondary outcomes included aortic stenosis-related hospitalisation. Results: Median time to TAVI significantly decreased following clinic establishment: 218 days pre-clinic vs 77 days post-clinic, p < 0.0001. Time to TAVI was comparable to tertiary and other dedicated TAVI-pathway centres and shorter than referral centres without dedicated clinics. Aortic tenosis-related hospitalisations were significantly lower: nine (12.5%) pre-clinic vs five (4.0%) post-clinic, p = 0.025. Conclusion: The introduction of a local TAVI clinic in our centre was associated with reduced time to TAVI and fewer aortic stenosis-related hospitalisations.
Chotalia et al. (Wed,) studied this question.