Antithrombotic therapy in patients after transcatheter aortic valve implantation: a network meta-analysis

The optimal antithrombotic therapy to balance the risk of thrombosis and bleeding in patients who undergo transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is unknown. This systematic review/network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of different oral anticoagulant (OAC) and antiplatelet regimens in patients post-TAVI.

MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from inception to April 2023. Co-primary outcomes were all-cause death and major bleeding. We conducted Bayesian network meta-analyses to compare all interventions simultaneously. For each outcome, we generated odds ratios (ORs) with 95% credible intervals using a random-effects model with informative priors, and ranked interventions based on mean surface under the cumulative ranking curve. We included 11 RCTs (n = 6415), including 1 unpublished RCT. Three trials enrolled patients with an indication for an OAC. Overall risk of bias was low or with some concerns. Median age was 81 years. Median follow-up was 6 months. The combination of OAC plus single antiplatelet therapy (SAPT) increased the risk of all-cause death compared with dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) (OR 1.78, 95% credible interval 1.15–2.77). No other comparisons for all-cause death were significantly different. For major bleeding, SAPT reduced the risk compared with DAPT, direct-acting OAC, and OAC + SAPT (OR 0.20–0.40), and DAPT reduced the risk compared with OAC + SAPT. SAPT and DAPT ranked best for all-cause death, while SAPT ranked best for major bleeding.

In post-TAVI patients, SAPT may provide the optimal balance of reducing thrombotic events while minimizing the risk of bleeding.