Aims: Paravalvular aortic regurgitation (PVAR) after balloon-expandable transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) remains difficult to quantify, and the utility of the AR index (ARi) to create a composite aortic insufficiency (CAI) score was an important advance. Heart rate (HR) influences the ARi but the clinical relevance of this phenomenon remains poorly appreciated. We sought to validate a new composite heart-rate-adjusted haemodynamic-echocardiographic aortic insufficiency (CHAI) score in the prognostic evaluation of PVAR after balloon-expandable TAVI.
Methods and results: The severity of PVAR was assessed immediately post TAVI by transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) with simultaneous assessment of transcatheter haemodynamics. A total of 303 patients were studied. The CHAI score, incorporating the HR-adjusted diastolic-delta (HRA-DD, the difference between left ventricular and aortic diastolic pressures/HR*80), had a greater discriminatory value for one-year mortality than both PVAR by TOE (p=0.0018) and the previously proposed CAI score, based on the ARi without HR adjustment (p=0.0029). The CHAI score also better stratified percentage increases in left ventricular systolic chamber dimensions at one month and serum natriuretic peptide levels at one to three months.
Conclusions: Prognostication of PVAR in the intermediate range of echocardiographic severity remains unreliable and is greatly enhanced by the integration of heart-rate-adjusted transcatheter haemodynamics.