Why the study?
Severe AS increases LV afterload, and TAVR immediately alleviates this gradient, but how TAVR acutely affects LV cardiac mechanics required in-vivo PV relationship assessment.
Does TAVR immediately alter left ventricular cardiac mechanics in patients with severe aortic stenosis?
Does TAVR immediately alter left ventricular cardiac mechanics in patients with severe aortic stenosis?
TAVR for severe aortic stenosis leads to immediate left ventricular unloading and reduced myocardial metabolic demand, alongside a decline in contractility.
Acute LV unloading by TAVR is hypothesis-generating; leaves open whether PV-loop changes predict outcomes or warrant practice shifts.
BACKGROUND: Severe aortic stenosis (AS) induces a disproportional pressure gradient across the aortic valve causing increased left ventricular (LV) afterload. Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) aims to immediately alleviate the aortic pressure gradient and thereby changing LV cardiac mechanics. The aim was to describe by in-vivo assessment of LV pressure-volume (PV) relationships how TAVR acutely affects LV cardiac mechanics. METHODS: In this prospective observational study in patients with severe AS, LV cardiac mechanics were evaluated with an LV conductance catheter before and after TAVR. The effects of transcatheter valve design, pre and postdilatation, use of rapid pacing (≥180 bpm) and LV ejection fraction (EF) were specifically addressed. RESULTS: In-vivo LV PV reconstructions were obtained in 61 patients. Stroke work (SW) and pressure volume area (PVA) were significantly lower following TAVR (decrease from median [25th-75th percentile] of 10,935.6 [6877.5-13490.8] to 6,878.0 [4,870.8-8,613.8] mmHg/mL, P < .001 and from 17,831.5 [12,414.9-22,416.8] to 11,024.9 [8364.7-14705.0] mmHg/mL, P < .001, respectively) with stable SW/PVA ratios. Overall, end-systolic and end-diastolic pressures and volumes were significantly lower after TAVR. Arterial Elastance, as an index for LV afterload also decreased (2.66 [2.01-3.87]-1.96 [1.25-2.72] mmHg/mL, P < .001). LV contractility declined as illustrated by a reduction in End-systolic Elastance (2.22 [1.50-3.10]-1.58 [1.08-2.43] mmHg/mL, P < .001). The trends in changing LV cardiac mechanics were similar for balloon- and self-expanding valves and were not affected by pre/post dilatation, rapid pacing or LV EF. CONCLUSIONS: TAVR for severe AS resulted in immediate LV unloading, lower myocardial metabolic demand and impaired contractility. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This observational study was registered at URL: https://www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov with unique identifier: NCT06204783.
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Enden et al. (2025) studied this question.
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