RESULTS
From 2016 to 2017, there were a total of 46077 patients who underwent TAVR implantation (Figure 1), out of which 6084 patients (13.2%) with a prior pacemaker were excluded. Out of 39,993 patients who did not have a prior pacemaker, 4001 (10 %) underwent PPMI during index admission while 734 (1.8 %) underwent pacemaker implantation on readmission during their six-month follow up. Thus, the delayed pacemaker group (d-PPMI) represented 15.5 % of all pacemakers implanted post TAVR implantation.
The mean time to pacemaker implantation post discharge for TAVR was 30.2 days (±46.9 days). There was a rapid increase in pacemaker implantation after the TAVR with 68% (n=499) implanted within the first 14 days (Figure 2). Thereafter, the slope of the curve decreased around 20 days with a steady small rate of PPMI. In terms of causes for readmission (Figure 3), most were due to complete heart block (49%) and other being- bradycardia/non-specific heart block 20%, Second degree heart block (4%), complications of prosthetic heart valve (3%), tachyarrhythmias (6%) and miscellaneous (18 %).