Effect of Physiotherapist-led Exercise-based Cardiac Rehabilitation in Older Patients With Aortic Stenosis Who Have Undergone TAVI?

Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is the most common valve disease with the highest prevalence in older individuals. Healthcare is unequal, with women receiving specialist care and interventions less frequently than men. They also receive the diagnosis later, and mortality rates are higher. AS develops over time, and in the presence of symptomatic AS such as angina pectoris, syncope, and heart failure, the prognosis is poor, and mortality is high. If untreated, AS is a disease with a 2-year relative mortality risk of 50%. In older patients at high risk with symptomatic AS, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is the only medical treatment that improves prognosis and survival.

Since 2008, TAVI has been performed in Sweden as a standard treatment with priority 3 in the the recommendations given by the National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden. The number of TAVI procedures in Sweden is steadily increasing and now exceeds isolated open aortic valve surgery. This development allows patients with severe symptoms and high risk, who were previously inoperable, to undergo valve intervention.

Frailty is a condition where at least three of the following criteria should be met: involuntary weight loss, self-reported fatigue, sarcopenia, reduced physical capacity, slow walking speed, and low physical activity level. Studies show that 50-70% of those undergoing TAVI due to AS are defined as frail elderly individuals with comorbidities such as heart failure and renal failure. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated an increased risk of falls and difficulty participating in daily activities due to reduced peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak), short walking distance, lower walking speed, and impaired Health Related Quality of Life (HR-QoL). It is well-established that a low VO2peak correlates with increased risk of premature death in both healthy individuals and those with chronic disease (19). Moreover, there is a strong correlation between a short walking distance and prognosis in patients with chronic diseases.

Since patients with AS already have reduced physical fitness preoperatively, a prolonged recovery time is usually observed postoperatively. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses examining the effect of physiotherapist-led exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (PT-X) after TAVI have shown that participation in PT-X can improve VO2peak, walking distance, walking speed, and HR-QoL. However, the included studies are few and exhibit varying study quality, leading to selection bias. Despite this, the opportunity to participate in PT-X after TAVI is virtually non-existent in Sweden due to low evidence, and national and international cardiac care guidelines do not mention the possibility of PT-X after TAVI.

This has resulted in patients who have undergone TAVI not being recommended PT-X as part of their medical treatment, unlike conditions such as heart failure and ischemic heart disease, which have high priority and high evidence. As more patients undergo TAVI, it is of utmost importance to investigate whether PT-X after TAVI can further improve physical capacity, quality of life, and reduce hospital admissions.