Silent ischemic brain lesions after transcatheter aortic valve replacement: lesion distribution and predictors

Silent ischemic brain lesions and ischemic stroke are known complications of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). We aimed to investigate the occurrence and distribution of TAVR-related silent ischemic brain lesions using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI).

Consecutive patients with severe aortic valve stenosis treated with TAVR underwent cerebral DWI within 5 days after the index procedure. DWI scans were analyzed for the occurrence and distribution of new ischemic lesions post-TAVR.

Forty-two patients were enrolled in this study. After TAVR, a total of 276 new cerebral ischemic lesions were detected in 38 (90 %) patients, with a median of 4.5 (interquartile range 2.0-7.0) lesions per patient. A total of 129 (47 %) lesions were detected in the cortical regions, 97 (35 %) in the subcortical regions, and 50 (18 %) in the cerebellum or brainstem. The median lesion volume was 20.2 A mu l (10.0, 42.7) and the total ischemic lesion volume was 132.3 A mu l (42.8, 336.9). The new ischemic brain lesions were clinically silent in 37 (97 %) patients; the other patient had a transient ischemic attack. Age (B = 0.528, p = 0.015), hyperlipidaemia (B = 5.809, p = 0.028) and post-dilatation of the implanted prosthesis (B = 7.196, p = 0.029) were independently associated with the number of post-TAVR cerebral DWI lesions. In addition, peak transaortic gradient was independently associated with post-procedural total infarct volume.

Clinically silent cerebral infarcts occurred in 90 % of patients following TAVR, most of which were small (<20 mu l) and located in the cortical regions of the cerebral hemispheres. An independent association was found between age, hyperlipidaemia and balloon post-dilatation and the number of post-TAVR ischemic brain lesions. Only peak transaortic gradient was independently associated with post-procedural total infarct volume.