Cost-Effectiveness of Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair versus Medical Therapy in Patients with Heart Failure and Secondary Mitral Regurgitation: Results from the COAPT Trial.

Background: The COAPT trial demonstrated that edge-to-edge transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr) using the MitraClip resulted in reduced mortality and heart-failure hospitalizations and improved quality of life when compared with maximally-tolerated guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) in heart-failure patients with 3-4+ secondary mitral regurgitation (SMR). Whether TMVr is cost-effective compared with GDMT in this population is unknown. Methods: We used data from the COAPT trial to perform a formal, patient-level economic analysis of TMVr + GDMT vs. GDMT alone for patients with heart failure and 3-4+ SMR from the perspective of the US health care system. Costs for the index TMVr hospitalization were assessed using a combination of resource-based accounting and hospital billing data (when available). Follow-up medical care costs were estimated based on medical resource use collected during the COAPT trial. Health utilities were estimated for all patients at baseline, 1, 6, 12 and 24 months using the SF-6D. Results: Initial costs for the TMVr procedure and index hospitalization were $35,755 and $48,198, respectively. Although follow-up costs were significantly lower with TMVr compared with GDMT ($26,654 vs. $38,345; p=0.018), cumulative 2-year costs remained higher with TMVr due to the up-front cost of the index procedure ($73,416 vs. $38,345; p<0.001). When intrial survival, health utilities, and costs were modeled over a lifetime horizon, TMVr was projected to increase life-expectancy by 1.13 years and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) by 0.82 years at a cost of $45,648, yielding a lifetime incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $40,361/life-year gained and $55,600/QALY gained. Conclusions: For symptomatic heart-failure patients with 3-4+ SMR, TMVr increases lifeexpectancy and quality-adjusted life-expectancy compared with GDMT at an incremental cost per QALY gained that represents acceptable economic value based on current U.S. thresholds. Clinical Trial Registration: URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov Unique Identifier: NCT01626079.