Aortic valve replacement with 31- and 33-mm mechanical prostheses: early results.

The mean aortic diameter of Indian adults is 25-31 mm, yet fewer than 1% of worldwide heart valve procedures involve a 31-mm aortic heart valve. Of the 72 large prosthetic aortic valves (31-mm) implanted in the Asia Pacific region during 2001-2003, 53 (74%) were implanted at our institution. This retrospective study was undertaken to assess early results and outcomes, on echocardiography and exercise testing, in patients who received large prosthetic aortic valves. From January 1997 through December 2002, 27 patients underwent isolated aortic valve replacement with 31-mm St. Jude Medical prostheses, and 4 patients underwent aortic valve replacement with 33-mm St. Jude Medical reversed mitral prostheses. These 31 patients were among 240 who underwent isolated aortic valve replacement at our institution during the same period. The preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative data were collected from case records and patient follow-up. Fifteen of the 31 patients underwent echocardiography and exercise testing at least 6 months after operation. There were no early deaths. No patient developed prosthetic valve endocarditis or paravalvular leak. One patient, who developed valve thrombosis as a result of noncompliance with the anticoagulation regimen, underwent thrombectomy and died during the early postoperative period, due to low cardiac output. There was no structural failure or anticoagulant-related hemorrhage. Postoperatively, the peak and mean gradients across the prostheses were low. The exercise performance of all the patients was good. These early favorable results need to be borne out by longer and more comprehensive study of larger groups.