Validation of the "Toronto Aortic Stenosis Quality of Life Questionnaire" in Patients Undergoing Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement or Transfemoral Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation The TASQ Registry

Currently, there are two cardiovascular disease QoL scales which have been used in studies of patients with aortic stenosis - the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLHF) questionnaire and the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ).

The KCCQ has now become the only cited health related (HR) QoL validated scale for use among a growing TAVI (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation) patient population; however questions on the KCCQ do not reflect the concerns and lifestyle of patients proceeding for aortic valve intervention. Many of the questions do not reflect this patient population's perspective of well-being in contrast to perceptions by the general cardiac population on which it was validated. It is important to capture the disruptions caused by a chronic disease and its treatment on lifestyles, activities, and interests; that is interference with psychologically meaningful activity. It has been noted that this interference varies by disease process and treatment by general scales such as the Illness Intrusiveness Scale .

Due to issues of limited validity of the KCCQ for TAVI / SAVR (Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement) patients related to symptom items not being revised from their original use for congestive heart failure, a new original HR-QoL questionnaire was proposed: The "Toronto Aortic Stenosis Quality of Life Questionnaire" (TASQ) is a health specific measurement tool designed to measure changes in quality of life in aortic stenosis patients. The aim of this study is to validate this questionnaire in this specific patient population.