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Variability in surveillance practice for patients with diagnosis of bicuspid aortic valve syndrome
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  • Arianna Kahler-Quesada,
  • Ishani Vallabhajosyula,
  • Sameh Yousef,
  • Makoto Mori,
  • Roland Assi,
  • Rita Milewski,
  • Arnar Geirsson,
  • Prashanth Vallabhajosyula
Arianna Kahler-Quesada
Yale School of Medicine

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Ishani Vallabhajosyula
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Sameh Yousef
Yale School of Medicine
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Makoto Mori
Yale University School of Medicine
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Roland Assi
Yale University School of Medicine
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Rita Milewski
Yale University School of Medicine
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Arnar Geirsson
Yale University School of Medicine
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Prashanth Vallabhajosyula
Yale School of Medicine
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Abstract

Background/Aim: In patients with bicuspid aortic valves, guidelines call for regular follow-up to monitor disease progression and guide timely intervention. We aimed to evaluate how closely these recommendations are followed at a tertiary care center. Methods: This was retrospective cohort study at a tertiary care center. Among 48,504 patients who received echocardiograms between 2013-2018, 245 patients were identified to have bicuspid aortic valve. Bivariate analyses compared patient and echocardiographic characteristics between patients who did and did not receive follow-up by a cardiovascular specialist. Results: The mean age of the cohort was 55.2  15.6 years and 30.2% were female. During a median follow-up of 3.5  2.2 years, 72.7% of patients had at least one visit with a cardiovascular specialist after diagnosis of bicuspid aortic valve by echocardiogram. Patients followed by specialists had a higher proportion of follow-up surveillance by echocardiogram (78.7% vs. 34.3%, p< .0001), or by CT or MRI (41.0% vs. 3.0%, p < .0001), and were more likely to undergo valve or aortic surgery compared with patients not followed by specialists. Patients with moderate to severe valvular or aortic pathology (aortic stenosis/regurgitation, dilated ascending aorta) were not more likely to be followed by a cardiovascular specialist or receive follow-up echocardiograms. Conclusions: Follow-up care for patients with bicuspid aortic valve was highly variable, and surveillance imaging was performed sparsely despite guidelines. There is an urgent need for surveillance and clinical follow-up mechanisms to monitor this patient population with increased risk of progressive valvulopathy and aortopathy.