Variability in surveillance practice for patients with diagnosis of
bicuspid aortic valve syndrome
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.