Every patient deserves protection from disabling stroke
STS/ACC TVT Registry
Impact of Cerebral Embolic Protection Devices on Disabling Stroke after TAVR: Results from the TVT Registry1
Study Objectives
- To describe updated temporal trends and site-level variability in use of SENTINEL among patients undergoing TAVR in the US.
- To use real-world data to investigate whether use of SENTINEL is associated with reduction in disabling stroke in patients undergoing TAVR in contemporary practice.
Study Design
General Design: Observational retrospective study of the relationship between use of SENTINEL and TAVR outcomes
Data Source: STS/ACC TVT Registry
Inclusion Criteria: First isolated Transfemoral TAVR between 1/2018 and 6/2023; includes all TAVR devices, bicuspid valve, valve-in-valve procedures
Exclusion Criteria: Emergent procedures; alternative access; sites performing <20 TAVR/yr; CEP other than SENTINEL
Primary Endpoint: In-hospital disabling stroke
Key Points
- The STS /ACC TVT Registry Stroke data were presented as a Late- Breaking Clinical trial at NY Valves on Wednesday, June 5th, 2024 by Dr. David Cohen from St. Francis Hospital and Dr. Neel Butala from the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, leaders of this Investigator- Sponsored Research (ISR) study.
- Results from a prior TVT Registry analysis2 (>120K TAVR patients), and from the PROTECTED-TAVR3 trial, examining the benefits of using SENTINEL during TAVR, generated inconclusive findings related to all-stroke. Therefore, the present study (observational, retrospective study), using the TVT registry was designed to investigate whether the use of SENTINEL is associated with reduction in disabling stroke in patients undergoing TAVR in contemporary practice.
- The STS/ACC TVT registry collects data on patients’ demographics, comorbidities, and outcomes in the US outside of clinical trials. The study population consisted of N=414,649 TAVR patients of whom 53,389 (12.9%) received a SENTINEL between 1/2018-6/2023. The primary outcome was in-hospital disabling stroke. A proxy definition of disabling stroke – defined as non-home discharge - was validated and used for the analysis.
Results
Analytic Approaches
Primary: Instrumental Variable Analysis
- Technique originally developed in economics that takes advantage of “natural experiments” to approximate randomization
- Under appropriate assumptions, can account for both measured and unmeasured confounding and support causal inference
- Instrument = site-level preference for CEP use during the calendar quarter
Secondary: Propensity Score Weighting
- Propensity score to predict CEP use developed based on 32 demographic, clinical, and hospital-level characteristics
- Risk-adjusted comparisons performed using overlap propensity weighting
Main Study Findings
- To evaluate the association between SENTINEL use and disabling stroke, an instrumental variable analysis (IV) with site-level preference for SENTINEL use as the instrument was performed. In addition, a propensity score-based comparison (propensity weighting, PW) was performed as a secondary analysis.
- SENTINEL use was associated with a small, borderline significant reduction in disabling stroke in both IV analysis (RR 0.87; 95% CI: 0.73-1.00) and PW analysis (OR 0.79; 95% CI: 0.70-0.90) but was not associated with a reduction in non-disabling stroke.
- In subgroup analyses, the benefit of SENTINEL was greater among patients with prior stroke versus those without (interaction p<0.05 for IV and PW).
Conclusions
- In this large observational study, it was found that SENTINEL use was associated with a small, borderline statistically significant reduction in the risk of stroke associated with death or a discharge to a non-home location (a proxy for disabling stroke) that was at the lower bound of what was observed in the PROTECTED-TAVR trial.
- The relative risk reduction in disabling stroke with SENTINEL use was amplified among the subset of patients with prior stroke.
- These findings provide evidence that supports a true clinical benefit of SENTINEL use for patients undergoing TAVR, limited to prevention of disabling stroke
The PROTECTED TAVR Study
Study objectives
To demonstrate that use of the SENTINEL CPS significantly reduces the risk of peri-procedural stroke (≤ 72-hours) after TAVR.
The PROTECTED TAVR Study is the largest randomized TAVR trial to date with 3,000 patients enrolled at >50 global sites who were randomized 1:1 – patients protected with SENTINEL vs. no use of SENTINEL during TAVR. All risk categories were eligible for inclusion, including low risk patients and all commercially available valves included as part of the trial.
Primary Endpoint: All Stroke (hemorrhagic, ischemic, or undetermined status; disabling or non-disabling) through 72-hours post TAVR procedure or hospital discharge.
Transient ischemic attack (TIA) and delirium were also reported on as part of the secondary neurological endpoints.
All patients enrolled in the trial underwent neurological examination at baseline and post TAVR procedure (discharge or 72-hours, whichever came first). This assessment was performed by a neurology professional (board certified/board eligible neurologist, neurology fellow, neurology physician assistant, or neurology nurse practitioner).
PROTECTED TAVR results
The primary endpoint did not meet statistical significance, but the data demonstrated a numerical trend towards a lower rate of stroke in patients treated with the SENTINEL device, representing a 21% relative risk reduction in all stroke through 72-hours or time of hospital discharge.
A secondary analysis demonstrated a statistically significant 60% relative risk reduction in disabling stroke through 72-hours or time of hospital discharge in patients treated with the SENTINEL device.
