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.