What to expect after TAVI / TAVR aortic valve replacement? Leading expert: “If you’re 90, you’re going to feel like you’re 80.” What quality of life patients could expect after TAVI or TAVR procedure? Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement. How does life quality after TAVR compare to quality of life after open-heart surgery to replace aortic valve? Yes. Dr. Jeffrey Popma, MD. It is very interesting question. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Because this is probably the most common question that our patients ask us. Because they lived a very great 80 - 85 - 90 - 95 years. In a couple cases patients are a hundred years old. Dr. Jeffrey Popma, MD. Yet now they are suffering from symptoms of aortic stenosis. This would include shortness of breath, chest pain, and lightheadedness. Patients with aortic stenosis sometimes have fatigue but it is less common. All those symptoms impair their ability to enjoy life. They can no longer walk across the room without being short of breath. Dr. Jeffrey Popma, MD. They can't go up a flight of stairs. They can't go to their grandkids soccer games. Because they are too short of breath. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Those sorts of things are quality-of-life issues more than quantity of life issues. What we know from all of our studies is this. One year later after aortic valve replacement procedure patients feel much younger. After the surgical aortic valve or the transcatheter aortic valve replacement patients feel 10 years younger. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. That is a great number, right? Dr. Jeffrey Popma, MD. But that is the number that says "if you are 90, you are going to feel like you are 80." If you are 95, you are going to feel like you are 85. For 80 you feel like you are 70. That is a very understandable comparison. They are not going to feel like they are 50. But there is a very large number for patients. They feel like you did 10 years ago. That's a very laudable achievement. On average there is about a two to three or so years of prolongation of life. Dr. Jeffrey Popma, MD. This is compared to medical therapy for aortic valve stenosis. At one year I'm saying that the transcatheter aortic valves and the surgical valves look pretty good. They look pretty similar between the two options. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. What's interesting is that. The quality of life at the first month is different in patients who have a transcatheter aortic valve vs. a surgical aortic valve. Dr. Jeffrey Popma, MD. That is primarily because going from the groin rather going from the open chest. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. The surgical recovery is slower and the transcatheter recovery is a little bit faster. We do quality of life metrics in patients after aortic valve replacement. We as these questions. How do you feel? Are you moving around? What's your walk test? What's your case ECQ quality of life metrics? Dr. Jeffrey Popma, MD. Those are generally better in patients who have a transcatheter aortic valve replacement at 30 days compared to surgery. But by six months or one year or two years, everybody is a lot happier and feels a lot younger.