TAVR or TAVI? Cardiologists want a single acronym for the popular heart procedure
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) are two popular acronyms commonly used to describe the same heart procedure: percutaneous aortic valve implantation in patients with aortic stenosis.
In a new editorial for European Heart Journal, a trio of authors has asked the world’s medical societies to come together and agree on a single acronym instead of alternating between one and the other.[1]
“Medical abbreviations have become routine in any medical record or scientific searches in Medline,” wrote lead author Ciro Indolfi, MD, an interventional cardiologist with the University of Calabria in Cosenza, Italy, and colleagues. “In general, acronyms can be confusing especially for junior or non-cardiac healthcare personnel. In fact, the U.S. Institute of Safe Medication Practices has regularly received a continuous stream of reported errors, some of which have resulted in adverse events due to misinterpretation of some medical abbreviations. The confusion is even greater, especially in the non-cardiology community or administrative or registration agencies, when two different acronyms indicating the same procedure are used for the same operative technique.”
TAVR is more common in the United States, the group noted, and TAVI seems to be preferred throughout Europe and much of Asia.
TAVI was commonly used in the United States before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the technology and establish reimbursement policies. However, TAVR was adopted after Medicare stipulated it was paying specifically for a valve replacement.
Indolfi et al. did note that TAVI was the acronym originally introduced by Alan Cribier, MD, the procedure’s pioneer. Another benefit of TAVR over TAVI, they wrote, is that it more accurately describes the procedure. They said nothing is actually being “replaced” during TAVR, because the native valve is never removed.
So which acronym should be chosen? The authors did not offer a final solution themselves, because they say it is something the world’s cardiologists need to figure out together.
“International cardiac scientific societies should come together to draw up a joint document with the aim of choosing a single acronym to indicate the procedure of percutaneous aortic valve implantation, in the interests of patients, research and the global medical community,” they concluded.
Click here to read the full editorial in European Heart Journal, a European Society of Cardiology publication.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.