BACKGROUND Several centers favor replacing a diseased native heart valve with a tissue rather than a mechanical prosthesis, even in younger adult patients. However, long-term data supporting this approach are lacking. We examined the survival implications of selecting a tissue versus a mechanical prosthesis at initial left-heart valve replacement in a cohort of adults <60 years of age who were ...

background : prosthetic valve endocarditis (pve) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality associated with heart valve replacement surgery. the aim of the present study was to describe the early outcome of treatment in patients with pve in a single center. methods : the data of all the episodes of pve registered at our institution between 2002 and 2007 were collected and analyzed retrosp...

background: this study was undertaken to compare the outcome in patients with moderate to severe ischemic mitral regurgitation (imr) undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (cabg) with either mitral valve repair or mitral valve replacement. methods: between march 2002 and february 2005, 49 consecutive patients (mean age: 62.84±8.42 years; mean euroscore: 10.03±3.12) with coronary artery dise...

background: pregnant patients with mechanical heart valves require anticoagulation. the risk of bleeding and embryopathy associated with oral anticoagulants must be weighed against the risk of valve thrombosis. methods: in this prospective study, undertaken between 1999 and 2009, 53 pregnancies (47 women with mechanical mitral valves; 29.8 ± 4.8 years old) were studied. patients were divided in...

global myocardial ischemia and ischemia-reperfusion injury are potential adverse events related with cardioplegic arrest. beating heart surgery has avoided such complications and adapted to valve surgery following successful results published on myocardial revascularization. difficulty in weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass may be lessened by using on-pump beating heart surgery for mitral valve...

Letter by Charitos et al Regarding Article, “Reoperation of Left Heart Valve Bioprostheses According to Age at Implantation” To the Editor: We read with great interest the work of Chan and colleagues1 on the age-stratified incidence of reoperations after left heart biological valve implantation. Results on this area of research were greatly anticipated because previous works in this field were ...

OBJECTIVES We aimed at evaluating the results of aortic valve-sparing root replacement (AVSRR) in children with aortic root aneurysm (ARA) due to genetic disorders in terms of mortality, reoperation and recurrent aortic valve regurgitation (AVR). METHODS Thirteen patients (mean age 9.7 ± 6.5 years, 10 months-18 years) underwent AVSRR for ARA between 2002 and 2011. Six of the 13 patients had M...

http://ccn.aacnjournals.org higher in men than in women. Increasing evidence indicates that the disease is accelerated by the same factors that affect coronary artery disease, including smoking, hypercholesterolemia, hyper tension, and diabetes. Until now, surgical valve replacement, pioneered in the 1960s with mechanical or tissue prostheses, was the only effective treatment available to allev...

Heart valve replacement is fast becoming a routine surgery worldwide, and heart valve prostheses are today considered among the most widely used cardiovascular devices. Mechanical and bioprostheses have been the traditional choices to the replacement surgeries. However, such valves continue to expose patients to risks including thrombosis, infection and limited valve durability. In recent years...

It is now believed that aortic insufficiency and calcific aortic stenosis must be treated with total valve replacement. Until recently this was performed with the aid of prostheses of teflon and similar materials. Even if the short-term results were promising, follow-up studies revealed a high percentage of breakdown of these prostheses (Bjork, Cullhed, and Lodin, 1963; Larson and Kirklin, 1964...