Description

Purpose of the Registry

The TVT Registry was designed to support a national surveillance system to assess the characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of patients receiving transcutaneous valve therapies. Patient-level data are submitted by participating hospitals to The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) and American College of Cardiology Foundation's (ACCF) joint TVT Registry. The purposes of the TVT Registry include: (i) collecting pertinent and standardized data elements from participating hospitals, health care providers and others that measure and assess the quality of care for patients receiving TVT; (ii) providing confidential periodic reports to participating hospitals, health care providers and others, to evaluate and improve the quality of care in these areas; and (iii) permitting and fostering appropriate research based upon the data collected by means of the TVT Registry.

The secondary aim of the TVT Registry is to serve as a scalable data infrastructure for post market studies.

Background and Significance

Transcatheter valve therapies are now emerging into clinical practice from the research phase in the United States. The first of several approaches to replacing the aortic valve without open-chest surgery has now become a reality. Other valve and delivery systems are expected to be approved in the upcoming years. An Expert Consensus Document on Transcatheter Valve Therapy has outlined the initial technology, targeted patient population, and the multidisciplinary heart team and specialized facilities needed. The document also proposes the establishment of a national registry of patients with valvular heart disease that can collect and analyze data as these new valve treatment options become available. Surveillance of device performance, monitoring of long-term outcomes, and performance of comparative effectiveness research are some of the proposed uses of the registry.

Transcatheter valve therapies have emerged because of unmet patient needs. Furthermore, TVT has developed at a time when degenerative heart valve diseases of both the mitral and aortic valves are increasing in frequency as the population ages. With the introduction of the first TAVR commercial product, the targeted patient group is the "inoperable" patient who cannot receive the traditional therapy of surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). It is expected that TAVR will subsequently be extended to patients who have high risk with SAVR. The marked reduction of mortality by TAVR in the inoperable patients and the similar mortality of TAVR versus SAVR in the high risk patients provide patients with a new therapy with benefits but also with a different risk profile. Patients and their families will need to make informed decisions regarding the likelihood of having a mortality benefit, of improving their functional class and quality of life, of suffering a complication, and of choosing between different care options and therapeutic approaches.

For these patients there are unique issues such as the prioritization of the health related quality of life versus the quantity of life, the desire to preserve independence and avoid becoming a burden to families, and the need to clearly understand what about their current condition is reversible versus irreversible and linked to other conditions and aging. These issues become further highlighted when considering the considerable costs and other treatment burdens of the TVT technologies versus the disabling symptoms and recurrent hospitalizations caused by untreated severe valvular heart disease.