Dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) with clopidogrel and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) has previously been recommended after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and is still the standard of care in patients who underwent coronary stent placement within 3 months prior to TAVI. This study sought to evaluate whether on-treatment platelet reactivity is a predictor for the occurrence of bleeding events after TAVI. This study enrolled 484 patients undergoing TAVI from November 2013 until April 2018. Patients were either on long-term DAPT with clopidogrel and ASA or received loading doses of both drugs before TAVI, reflecting the standard of care at the time of the patient's enrollment. Platelet reactivity was determined by multi-electrode impedance aggregometry before TAVI, at days 1 and 5 thereafter. Peri-interventional bleeding was assessed up to 5 days following TAVI and coded according to BARC-classification. Bleeding events were seen in 199 (41.1%) patients. The most frequent were BARC 2 bleeding cases (24.2%), followed by BARC 1 (6.0%), BARC 3b (5.2%), and BARC 3a (4.5%) cases. Low on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity before TAVI was present in 243 patients, of which 44.4% had a bleeding event. In contrast, the incidence of bleeding was 30.5% in the 95 patients with high on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified low/normal/high on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity (OR: 0.533; CI: 0.309-0.917; p = 0.023) and use of oral anticoagulation (OR: 1.766; CI: 1.209-2.581; p = 0.003) as strongest predictors for peri-interventional bleeding events. These findings support current recommendations advocating against the routine use of dual antiplatelet therapy following TAVI.
Keywords: BARC; TAVI; TAVR; aggregometry; bleeding; platelet.