Prognostic impact of main pulmonary artery to ascending aorta diameter ratio in patients with severe aortic stenosis underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Abstract Background Pulmonary hypertension (PH) and right ventricular dysfunction are poor prognostic predictors in patients underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for severe aortic stenosis (AS). Aims The prognostic impact of the main pulmonary artery/ascending aorta diameter ratio (MPA/AOr), measured simply by computed‐tomographic angiography (CTA), was investigated in this patient group. Methods A total of 374 retrospectively evaluated patients (mean age 78.1 ± 8.4 years, 192 [51.3%] females) who underwent TAVI for severe AS were included. MPA/AOr was measured on preprocedural CTA in all patients and the effect of this measurement on the presence of PH, in‐hospital and 2‐year‐overall long‐term mortality was investigated. Results The presence of PH was defined as a systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) >42 mmHg measured by echocardiography. According to multivariate‐logistic‐regression analysis, MPA/AOr (adjusted [Adj] odds ratio [OR]: 1.188, confidence interval [CI] 95% [1.002–1.410], p = 0.048), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) (adj OR:0.736, CI 95% [0.663–0.816], p < 0.001) and left atrial diameter (adj OR:1.051, CI 95% [1.007–1.098], p = 0.024) were identified as independent predictors of PH. In addition, a statistically significant correlation was found between MPA/AOr and TAPSE ( r : −0.283, p < 0.001). Furthermore, MPA/AOr was found to be an independent predictor of both in‐hospital (adj OR:1.434, CI 95% [1.093–1.881], p = 0.009) and 2‐year long‐term (adj OR:1.518, CI 95% [1.243–1.853], p < 0.001) mortality in multivariate analysis including TAPSE, STS score and sPAP. In the 2‐year Kaplan–Meier survival probability analysis, an MPA/AOr >0.86 was found to have a hazard ratio of 3.697 (95% CI: 2.341–5.840), with a log‐rank p < 0.001. Conclusion MPA/AOr, which can be measured simply by CTA, may be useful as an indicator of the presence of PH and poor prognosis in patients planned for TAVI for severe AS.