Diabetes mellitus is not associated with worse vascular outcome following percutaneous transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an alternative to open surgical aortic valve replacement and the impact of diabetes on vascular outcomes is worth of investigation. The aim of our study was to determine if diabetic patients had distinct pre-operative characteristics compared to non-diabetics and to evaluate the impact of the disease on vascular outcomes. Methods: Four hundred consecutive patients who underwent TAVI with percutaneous transfemoral access were retrospectively included. Vascular outcomes were classified according to the Valve Academic Research Consortium 2 classification. Results: Seventy-eight (19.5%) patients were diabetics. Compared to non-diabetics, diabetic patients were younger and had significantly higher body mass index (29.7+/- 0.7kg/m(2) vs 26.8+/- 0.3, p < .0001), higher proportion of associated dyslipidemia (34.6% vs 11.5%, p < .0001) and arterial hypertension (60% vs 38.2%, p = .0009). Anatomical characteristics of the vascular access and procedural characteristics did not differ among the groups. No significant difference was observed in the incidence of major and minor vascular complications and 30-day post-operative mortality between diabetic and non-diabetic patients (2.6% vs 1.9%, p = .6916). Conclusion: Diabetes is not associated with worse vascular outcome following TAVI suggesting that the vascular access can be managed safely in these patients.