Incidence, Time Course, and Outcomes of Worsening Tricuspid Regurgitation Following Transvenous Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Implantation

Data regarding the incidence, time course, and outcomes of worsening tricuspid regurgitation (TR) after transvenous cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation are limited. We screened 834 consecutive patients who underwent first-time transvenous CIED implantation. After excluding patients without preoperative or follow-up echocardiography (n = 361) and patients with severe TR before implantation (n = 15), the present study population consisted of 458 patients. Worsening TR was defined as moderate or more TR that was newly developed or increased by at least 1 grade compared with baseline. During the median follow-up period of 2.1 years, worsening TR occurred in 93 patients (20%). The cumulative incidence of worsening TR was 10.2% at 1 year and 18.6% at 3 years. Of the 67 patients with worsening TR who underwent follow-up echocardiography, excluding those who underwent tricuspid valve surgery, 76% showed improvement in TR severity, with 70% having none or mild TR. On the landmark analysis, the 5-year cumulative incidence of all-cause death and heart failure hospitalization was significantly higher in patients with worsening TR at 1 year than those without worsening TR at 1 year (24.8% vs 11.4%, p = 0.002 and 35.2% vs 17.9%, p = 0.012, respectively). When considering worsening TR as a time-dependent covariate, worsening TR was significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause death and heart failure hospitalization after adjustment for the differences in baseline patient characteristics (hazard ratio 1.99, 95% confidence interval 1.21 to 3.27, p = 0.006 and hazard ratio 2.64, 95% confidence interval 1.59 to 4.37, p <0.001, respectively). In conclusion, worsening TR after transvenous CIED implantation was not uncommon and had a dynamic nature with an improvement in the majority of patients, suggesting the functional etiology. Nonetheless, worsening TR was independently associated with an increased risk for mortality and heart failure hospitalization.