Publication Date
12-1-2014
Journal
The Texas Heart Journal
DOI
10.14503/THIJ-13-3619
PMID
25593520
Publication Date(s)
December 2014
Language
English
PMCID
PMC4251327
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
12-1-2014
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-Print
Published Open-Access
yes
Keywords
Aortic valve/abnormalities/surgery, cardiac surgical procedures/methods, heart defects, congenital/surgery, heart valve prosthesis implantation, prosthesis design, reconstructive surgical procedures/methods, treatment outcome
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of adults with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease who underwent aortic valve reconstructive surgery (AVRS), consisting of replacement of the diseased BAV with 2 or 3 pericardial leaflets plus fixation of the sinotubular junction for accurate and constant leaflet coaptation. From December 2007 through April 2013, 135 consecutive patients (mean age, 49.2 ± 13.1 yr; 73.3% men) with symptomatic BAV disease underwent AVRS. Raphe was observed in 84 patients (62.2%), and the remaining 51 patients had pure BAV without raphe. A total of 122 patients (90.4%) underwent 3-leaflet reconstruction, and 13 (9.6%) underwent 2-leaflet reconstruction. Concomitant aortic wrapping with an artificial graft was performed in 63 patients (46.7%).
There were no in-hospital deaths and 2 late deaths (1.5%); 6 patients (4.4%) needed valve-related reoperation. The 5-year cumulative survival rate was 98% ± 1.5%, and freedom from valve-related reoperation at 5 years was 92.7% ± 3.6%. In the last available echocardiograms, aortic regurgitation was absent or trivial in 116 patients (85.9%), mild in 16 (11.9%), moderate in 2 (1.5%), and severe in one (0.7%). The mean aortic valve gradient was 10.2 ± 4.5 mmHg, and the mean aortic valve orifice area index was 1.3 ± 0.3 cm2/m2. The 3-leaflet technique resulted in lower valve gradients and greater valve areas than did the 2-leaflet technique. Thus, in patients with BAV, AVRS yielded satisfactory early and midterm results with low mortality rates and low reoperation risk after the initial procedure.