Table 3.

In-hospital and early clinical outcomes stratified by treatment strategy

Outcome	Sternotomy (n = 20)	Mini-thoracotomy (n = 25)	Transcatheter (n = 64)	p-value
In-hospital mortality, n (%)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (1.6)	1.00
ICU stay, days	3 (2–4)	3 (2–4)	1 (1–2)	< 0.001
Hospital stay, days	9 (7–12)	7 (5–10)	5 (4–7)	< 0.001
Reoperation for bleeding, n (%)	2 (10.0)	1 (4.0)	0 (0.0)	0.04
Stroke, n (%)	1 (5.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (1.6)	0.84
Acute kidney injury, n (%)	0 (0.0)	1 (4.0)	2 (3.1)	0.92
Permanent pacemaker implantation, n (%)	1 (5.0)	0 (0.0)	3 (4.7)	0.48
Composite endpoint (death, stroke, AKI, PPM, reoperation), n (%)	4 (20.0)	2 (8.0)	6 (9.4)	0.34

Continuous variables (ICU stay and hospital stay) are presented as median [interquartile range] and were compared across groups using the Kruskal–Wallis test due to non-normal distribution. Categorical variables are presented as counts and percentages and were compared using Fisher’s exact test (Fisher–Freeman–Halton extension for contingency tables larger than 2 × 2), given the small sample size and low expected cell counts. All tests were two-sided, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant