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European Heart Journal Advance Access originally published online on May 13, 2009
European Heart Journal 2009 30(14):1790-1796; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehp171
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Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2009. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Quality of life assessment after percutaneous aortic valve implantation

Gian Paolo Ussia1,*, Massimiliano Mulè1, Marco Barbanti1, Valeria Cammalleri1, Marilena Scarabelli1, Sebastiano Immè1, Davide Capodanno1, Saverio Ciriminna2 and Corrado Tamburino1

1 Division of Cardiology, Ferrarotto Hospital, University of Catania, Via Citelli 6, Catania, Italy
2 Sicilian Health Authority Inspectorate, Sicily, Italy

Received 1 October 2008; revised 26 March 2009; accepted 14 April 2009; online publish-ahead-of-print 13 May 2009.

* Corresponding author. Tel: +39 0957436210, Fax: +39 0957436220, Email: gpussia{at}hotmail.com

Aims: To assess the NYHA class and the quality of life (QoL) scores after percutaneous aortic valve implantation (PAVI) with the 18-Fr CoreValve® prosthesis.

Methods and results: From April 2007 until August 2008, 57 consecutive patients with aortic stenosis were evaluated for PAVI. Of these, 30 patients with successfully prosthesis implantation had more than 5-month follow-up. QoL assessment was realized with the SF-12v2® Health-Survey, a simple questionnaire designed for self-administration that provides easily interpretable scales for physical [physical component summary (PCS)] and mental [mental component summary (MCS)] health. The questionnaire was administered before and 5 months after PAVI. All 30 patients had a marked upgrading in haemodynamic and echocardiographic parameters (peak-to-peak gradient from 64 ± 23 to 2 ± 0.4; P < 0.001; aortic valve area index from 0.3 ± 0.1 to 0.9 ± 0.3; P < 0.001), with an improvement in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class at discharge and after 5 months. Mean pre-operative SF-12v2® scores showed a severe impairment of perceived quality of life compared with general Italian population >75 years, both for physical (PCS-baseline 28.5 vs. 37.9, P < 0.001) and mental scores (MCS-baseline 37.8 vs. 45.4, P < 0.001). After 5 months, a striking improvement in both scores (PCS 41.3–MCS 48.3; P < 0.001) was observed.

Conclusion: Our preliminary results show a marked short-term improvement in functional status and physical and mental health in patients underwent PAVI.

Key Words: Aortic stenosis • Percutaneous therapy • Quality of life


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