No Gender-Based Difference in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Patients

Findings from a recent study suggest there are no gender-based differences in patients who have undergone a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and were treated with different anticoagulation medications.

The study BRAVO 3, which was presented at the Society for Cardiovascular and Angiography and Interventions, included 802 patients to assess TAVR procedures administered through the leg and the use of the anticoagulation medications bivalirudin and unfractionated heparin (UFH).

The primary endpoint of this study was major bleeding within 48 hours.

"Prior evidence has shown that while women have a higher rate of survival post TAVR, they are at a greater risk of complications from bleeding soon after a procedure," said the study's lead author Anita W. Asgar, MD. "BRAVO 3 was designed to look at whether different anticoagulation medications could reduce the early risk in women."

Patients in the study were 49% women and 51% men. Researchers noted that women were typically older and had fewer comorbidities.

According to the study, women had a lower EuroSCORE 1, a predictor of operative mortality in cardiac surgery, and both men and women were high-risk for TAVR.

At 30 days, women had similar survival, major cardiac events, and vascular complications as men.

Researchers also found that women treated with bivalirudin experienced less mortality, though this finding was not considered statistically significant.

"The good news is that we found early outcomes for women were comparable to those of men," concluded Dr. Asgar. "That being said, the BRAVO 3 study only looked at outcomes over 30 days, so the next step would be to see long-term results for post-TAVR procedures."