Analysis of complications in transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation: a single-center study.

INTRODUCTION:Transfemoral access is a prevailing approach for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in contemporary practice, with a shift from surgical arteriotomy to a percutaneous arterial approach. OBJECTIVES:This study assessed long- and short‑term mortality, along with Valve Academic Research Consortium-2-defined complications in percutaneous transfemoral approach (PTA) TAVI. Furthermore, it explored the impact of a learning curve on procedural outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODS:The study included 600 patients undergoing PTA TAVI at the National Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland, from January 2009 to September 2020. Retrospective data comparison involved 2 groups: early experience (first 200 patients) and late experience (next 400 patients). RESULTS:The primary end point (composite of life‑threatening bleeding, major vascular complication, or death at 30 days) occurred less often in the late experience group (28% vs 17.5%; P = 0.003). The late experience group also showed fewer cases of vascular complications (19% vs 10.7%; P = 0.005) and major bleeding (17.5% vs 8.5%; P = 0.001). Propensity matching yielded similar trends, including reduced frequency of pacemaker implantation (22.8% vs 10.9%; P = 0.03) and shorter median (interquartile range) hospitalization (11 [8-18] vs 7 [6-12] days; P <0.001) in the late experience group. CONCLUSIONS:The late experience group rated with PTA TAVI exhibited significantly reduced periprocedural complications, indicating a positive impact of accumulated expertise.