BackgroundRapid ventricular pacing (RVP) is used commonly during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Little is known about the safety and clinical consequences of this step. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of RVP on immediate and long‐term clinical outcomes in a large cohort of non‐selected TAVR patients.Method and ResultsThe study included 412 consecutive patients undergoing TAVR with a mean age of 82±7 years, of which 47% were male. Patients were divided according to the number of RVPs during the TAVR procedure comparing patients undergoing no pacing (0), 1 to 2, and ≥3 pacing episodes (3+). Patients undergoing 3+ pacing episodes were significantly more likely to develop new atrial fibrillation (5.6% versus 7.3% versus 15%, respectively, for 0, 1–2, and 3+ groups, P=0.047), acute kidney injury (AKI) (18% versus 18% versus 28%, respectively, P<0.001), prolonged procedural hypotension (0%, 16%, and 25%, respectively; P<0.001), and suffered greater in‐hospital mortality (1.7%, 1.7%, and 6.5%, respectively, P=0.045), and 1‐year mortality (11.1%, 7.7%, and 18%, respectively, P=0.015). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that acute kidney injury (OR 3.27 [1.763–6.09], P<0.001), euroSCORE II (OR 1.06 per unit [1.01–1.12], P=0.03), and 3+ pacing episodes (OR 2.35 [1.18–4.7], P=0.02) were the only independent predictors for 1‐year mortality.ConclusionsIn patients undergoing TAVR, multiple RVP episodes and prolonged RVP duration are associated with adverse outcomes including short‐ and long‐term mortality. Thus, operators should attempt to minimize the use of RVP, especially in patients who are at risk for post‐procedural acute kidney injury.

Hybrid PET myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) with CT allows the incorporation of coronary artery calcium (CAC) into the clinical protocol. We aimed to determine whether the combined analysis of MPI and CAC could improve the diagnostic accuracy of PET MPI in detection of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: Consecutive patients (n 5 152; mean age ± SD, 69 ± 12 y) without prior CAD, referred to 82 Rb PET MPI followed by invasive coronary angiography performed within 14 days, were studied. Myocardial perfusion was quantified automatically for left anterior descending, left circumflex, and right coronary artery territories as an ischemic total perfusion deficit (ITPD) for 456 vessels. Global and per-vessel CAC Agatston scores were calculated. Obstructive CAD was defined as 50% or greater stenosis of the left main and 70% or greater stenosis in the left anterior descending, left circumflex, and right coronary arteries. Logistic regression and 10-fold cross validation were used to derive and validate the combined ITPD/logCAC (logarithm of coronary calcium) scores. Results: In the prediction of per-vessel obstructive CAD, the receiver-operating-characteristic area under the curve for combined per-vessel ITPD/logCAC score was higher, 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.81-0.89), than standalone ITPD area under the curve, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.76-0.85), and logCAC score, 0.73 (95% CI, 0.68-0.78; P , 0.05). The integrated discrimination improvement of combined per-vessel ITPD/logCAC analysis was 0.07 (95% CI, 0.04-0.09; P , 0.0001), as compared with ITPD alone. Conclusion: Combined automatically derived per-vessel ITPD and logCAC score improves accuracy of 82 Rb PET MPI for detection of obstructive CAD.Key Words: hybrid cardiac positron emission tomography; coronary calcium score; detection of obstructive coronary artery disease

Serum albumin, as a marker of frailty, can significantly improve the ability of STS and EuroSCORE-2 scores to predict TAVR-related mortality.