Serial follow-up of an experimental bovine pericardial aortic bioprosthesis. Usefulness of pulsed Doppler echocardiography.

Echocardiography was used in the serial evaluation of 50 patients at 1, 3, and 7 years after aortic valve replacement with a new bovine pericardial aortic bioprosthesis. For valve sizes of 19-27 mm, at 7 years of follow-up mean transvalvular gradients (xGrad) ranged from 15.2 to 8.0 mm Hg, and calculated mean valve areas (AVA) ranged from 1.06 to 1.79 cm2. Acceptable xGrad and AVA were directly related to valve size and did not change in 48 asymptomatic patients. One patient at 7 years had marked calcific stenosis and degeneration requiring explanation. Echocardiography is useful in the long-term evaluation of bioprosthetic function, yielding information equivalent to cardiac catheterization data. This bovine pericardial valve offers good clinical and hemodynamic results at 7 years and is a suitable alternative when a bioprosthesis is indicated.