Assessment of Arrhythmias in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Using a Small Insertable Cardiac Monitoring Device

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has emerged as a valuable minimal-invasive treatment option in patients with symptomatic severe aortic valve (AV) stenosis at prohibitive or increased risk for conventional open-heart surgery. Recent randomized clinical trials reported a large treatment effect of TAVI over medical treatment among inoperable patients and similar or superior outcomes compared with surgical aortic valve replacement in high to intermediate risk patients. However, atrio-ventricular conduction disturbances and arrhythmias (in particular atrial fibrillation) before, during or after TAVI remain a matter of concern as they have important consequences. The objective of this study is to investigate the incidence, nature and prognostic significance of AV-conduction disturbances and arrhythmias among patients with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis undergoing TAVI before, during and after the procedure using a small implantable cardiac monitoring system (ICM; Medtronic REVEAL LinQTM). One hundred patients will be enrolled in this study. Prior to TAVI (at least 4 weeks), at the time of preprocedural hemodynamic and anatomical assessment, the ICM will be inserted under the skin of the chest under local anesthesia. The device will be interrogated just prior to readmission for TAVI and thereafter at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months of follow-up. The incidence of symptomatic as well as silent brady- and tachyarrhythmias will be recorded, and its impact on medical and device treatment as well as clinical outcomes analyzed. The present study will provide information about the actual incidence and impact of symptomatic and silent arrhythmias and AV-conduction disturbances among patients with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis undergoing TAVI. Specifically, the study estimate the burden of arrhythmias before TAVI and to accurately determine the incidence of new onset atrial fibrillation and complete AV-block within 12 months after the procedure. Identifying patie