# Long-Term Outcomes of Transcatheter Versus Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement Among Patients With Prior Mediastinal Radiation

## TL;DR

The study compares long-term outcomes of two heart valve replacement methods in patients previously treated with chest radiation.

## Contribution

It provides the first multinational observational analysis of long-term outcomes of TAVR versus SAVR in patients with prior mediastinal radiation.

## Key findings

- TAVR and SAVR showed similar 5-year mortality rates in patients with prior chest radiation.
- No significant difference in stroke or hospitalization rates was found between TAVR and SAVR groups.
- The results suggest TAVR is a viable option for patients with prior mediastinal radiation.

## Abstract

Limited data suggest that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is associated with similar short-term outcomes to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) among patients with a history of mediastinal radiation. However, the long-term outcomes of TAVR versus SAVR in this growing patient population remain unknown.

We identified patients with a history of chest radiation who underwent isolated AVR using the multinational TriNetX database from 2010 through 2025. Propensity score matching was performed to account for differences in baseline characteristics. Outcomes included all-cause mortality, stroke, and all-cause hospitalization at 5 years.

The analysis included 933 patients with prior chest radiation who underwent isolated AVR, of whom 785 (84.13%) underwent TAVR, and 148 (15.86%) underwent SAVR. After propensity score matching, 128 patients were included in each group. In the TAVR group, the mean age was 67.6 ± 10.2 years, and 72.7% were women. In the SAVR group, the mean age was 67.5 ± 8.7 years, and 69.5% were women. There was no statistically significant difference in the rates of all-cause mortality (11.7% vs 12.5%; hazard ratio [HR], 1.044; 95% CI, 0.52-2.12; P = .91), stroke (15.6% vs 13.3%; HR, 1.373; 95% CI, 0.72-2.63; P = .34), and all-cause hospitalization (56.3% vs 64.1%; HR, 0.935; 95% CI, 0.68-1.29; P = .65) between TAVR and SAVR at 5 years.

In this observational analysis from a multinational database of patients with prior mediastinal radiation, TAVR was associated with comparable long-term outcomes compared with SAVR. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings.