Arrhythmic Risk in Elderly Patients Candidates to Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Predictive Role of Repolarization Temporal Dispersion

Background/Aim: Degenerative aortic valve stenosis (AS) is associated to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death, as well as mental stress in specific patients. In such a context, substrate, autonomic imbalance as well as repolarization dispersion abnormalities play an undoubted role. Aim of the study was to evaluate the increase of premature ventricular contractions (PVC) and complex ventricular arrhythmias during mental stress in elderly patients candidate to the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Methods: In eighty-one elderly patients with AS we calculated several short-period RR- and QT-derived variables at rest, during controlled breathing and during mild mental stress, the latter being represented by a mini-mental state evaluation (MMSE). Results: All the myocardial repolarization dispersion markers worsened during mental stress (p
Source: Frontiers in Physiology - Category: Physiology Source Type: research