Systemic inflammatory response syndrome predicts increased mortality in patients after transcatheter aortic valve implantation

The outcome of patients undergoing surgical or interventional therapy is unfavourably influenced by severe systemic inflammation. We assessed the impact of a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) on the outcome after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). One hundred and fifty-two high-risk patients (mean age: 80.5 6.5 years, mean logistic EuroSCORE: 30.4 8.1) with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis underwent TAVI. Proinflammatory cytokines [interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8)], and acute phase reactants [C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT)] were measured at baseline and 1, 4, 24, 48, 72 h, and 7 days after TAVI. Sixty-one of 152 patients developed SIRS during the first 48 h after TAVI. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome patients were characterized by leucocytosis epsilon 12 10(9)/L (83.6 vs. 12.1; P 0.001), hyperventilation (80.3 vs. 35.2; P 0.001), tachycardia (37.7 vs. 9.9; P 0.001), and fever (31.1 vs. 3.3; P 0.001) compared with patients without SIRS. Furthermore, the occurrence of SIRS was characterized by a significantly elevated release of IL-6 and IL-8 with subsequent increase in the leucocyte count, CRP, and PCT. Major vascular complications [odds ratio (OR) 5.1, 95 confidence interval (CI): 1.319.6; P 0.018] and the number of ventricular pacing runs (OR 1.7, 95 CI: 1.12.8; P 0.025) were independent predictors of SIRS. The occurrence of SIRS was related to 30-day and 1-year mortality (18.0 vs. 1.1 and 52.5 vs. 9.9, respectively; P 0.001) and independently predicted 1-year mortality risk (hazard ratio: 4.3, 95 CI: 1.99.9; P 0.001). SIRS may occur after TAVI and is a strong predictor of mortality. The development of SIRS could be easily identified by a significant increase in the leucocyte count shortly after TAVI.