Does moderate sedation compared to general anesthesia improve outcomes in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement?
This review highlights the ongoing controversy and limited evidence base regarding the optimal anesthesia strategy (sedation vs. general anesthesia) for TAVR.
There is currently significant controversy regarding the best anesthesia management for patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Some institutions primarily use general anesthesia (GA) but many institutions primarily use moderate sedation. Much of the controversy is due to the limited evidence base available to inform this decision and the strong feelings and pre-conceived notions about the optimal anesthesia technique which exist amongst anesthesiologists, cardiologists, and cardiac surgeons. In this article and in the context of TAVR, we will define the salient differences between GA and sedation, review the results and limitations of the currently available data, and discuss the priority questions for future research.
Sato et al. (Thu,) studied this question.