• Contractile Reserve
• Dobutamine
• Functional Recovery
• TAVI

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has broadened treatment options for high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). However, 1-year mortality after TAVI in patients with left ventricular dysfunction has been described to be relative high. Furthermore, there were a number of such patients who received TAVI who, although alive over 1 year, continued to have very poor quality of life, with significant heart failure symptoms and functional limitation. To date, however, there has been little guidance as to how best to identify patients with poorer outcomes. Few studies were published about functional recovery immediate after TAVI in aortic stenosis patients with impaired left ventricular (LV) function and little is known the impact of immediate functional recovery on further functional improvement. It has been reported that the patients with poor outcomes are partly due to lack of left ventricular function recovery after TAVI and data is limited and controversial on the relationship between the presence of contractile reserve at dobutamine stress echocardiography and function recovery post-intervention.
The goals of the present study therefore are: 1. to evaluate the prevalence of immediate improvement in LV function post-TAVI and its impact on further functional recovery at 3-month follow-up in AS patients with impaired LV function undergoing TAVI; 2. To clarify the predictive value of LV contractile reserve assessed by low dose DSE on short term functional recovery in such patients.