Conscious sedation is safe for TAVR

Editor's Note

Conscious sedation is a safe and viable option for anesthesia in patients having transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), finds this study.

The use of conscious sedation rather than general anesthesia was associated with:

• similar rates of adverse events (1.5% in both groups)
• shortened ICU (30 vs 96 hours) and hospital (4.9 vs 10.4 days) length of stay
• a 28% decrease in costs.

Based on the findings, TAVR patients should receive conscious sedation instead of general anesthesia whenever possible, the researchers conclude.

Background Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become a commonplace procedure for the treatment of aortic stenosis in higher risk surgical patients. With the high cost and steadily increasing number of patients receiving TAVR, emphasis has been placed on optimizing outcomes as well as resource utilization.