Transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) is associated with significantly reduced hospitalization rates a full year after the procedure, according to a new analysis published in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.
The study included more than 500 patients who underwent TEER, formerly known as transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr), with the MitraClip device manufactured by Abbott. The median patient age was 78 years old, and 60.2% of patients were men. All patients received care from April 1, 2011, to Jan. 1, 2018, in Ontario. If patients underwent more than one procedure during that time, only the first procedure was included in this assessment.
Overall, all-cause hospitalization rates were 66.2% for the year before TEER/TMVr and 24.3% for the final 30 days before TEER. Those numbers dropped to 47.4% for the year after TEER and 14% for the first 30 days after TEER. Hospitalizations specifically related to heart failure (HF) followed a similar pattern.
“The lowest rates of hospitalization occurred in the second half of the year after the intervention, an impressive finding given the elderly and frail real-world population under investigation,” wrote first author Andrew Czarnecki, MD, MSc, of the department of medicine at the University of Toronto, and colleagues.
Czarnecki et al. described their findings as “important and significant,” noting that it has proven especially challenging in the past to modify hospitalization patterns for HF patients.
“Given the high prevalence of comorbidities in these elderly patients who are not candidates for operative intervention, these are important and influential results for both patients and policy makers,” the authors wrote. “These findings should lead to further study regarding which patients are most likely to benefit from reduced hospitalization and whether significant underutilization exists.”
Click here for the full study from JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.