title: Survival in elderly patients with severe aortic stenosis is dramatically improved by aortic valve replacement: Results from a cohort of 277 patients aged > or =80 years.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Calcific aortic stenosis (AS) is a disease of the elderly. However, there is reluctance to offer aortic valve replacement (AVR) for elderly patients with severe AS. We investigated if AVR confers a survival benefit in elderly patients with severe AS.
  
  
  METHODS
  We screened our echocardiographic database from 1993 to 2003 for patients with severe AS (AV area < or = 0.8 cm2) and age > or =80 years. Two hundred and seventy seven patients were identified. Complete chart reviews were performed for clinical data. Mortality data were obtained from National Death Index. Survival curves of patients who underwent AVR during the follow-up period were compared with those managed nonsurgically.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patient characteristics were as follows: age 85+/-4 years, 53% male, AV area 0.68+/-0.16 cm2, EF 52+/-20%, CAD 47%, diabetes 17%. Over a mean follow-up of 2.5 years, 55 (20%) had AVR and there were 175 deaths. One-year, 2-year and 5-year survival rates among patients with AVR were 87, 78 and 68% respectively, compared with 52, 40 and 22%, respectively, in those who had no AVR (p < 0.0001). Hazard ratio for death with AVR adjusted for 19 covariates including age, EF, gender, comorbidities and pharmacotherapy was 0.38 (95% CI 0.26-0.66, p < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prognosis of medically managed severe calcific AS in the elderly patients is dismal. AVR appears to improve survival of these patients and should be strongly considered in the absence of other major comorbidities.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, University of Southern California/Keck School of Medicine, 1510 San Pablo Street, Suite 300N, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
authors.forename: Padmini
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Varadarajan
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.forename: Ramesh C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Bansal
authors.forename: Ramdas G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Pai
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000601:surgery*; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000601:surgery; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014463:Ultrasonography