Safety of comprehensive aortic root and valve repair surgery: a retrospective outcomes research by national evidence-based health care collaborating agency, Korea.

Comprehensive aortic root and valve repair (CARVAR) is a recently introduced surgical technique for aortic valve disease. The National Evidence-based Health Care Collaborating Agency was offered by the ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea to perform a restrospective outcome analysis for this surgical procedure. The aims of this study were to evaluate the safety of patients who underwent CARVAR surgery and to provide a rationale for further prospective randomized study. During the period of March 2007 to November 2009, 397 patients received this procedure and enrolled in this study. Clinical events including major bleeding, endocarditis, re-operation and death were followed-up till March 2010 by medical records. During the follow-up periods, 1-year cumulative incidence of major bleeding, re-operation, endocarditis and death were 3.55, 5.65, 5.05 and 5.33%/year respectively. This study showed that the CARVAR technique is not beneficial, and is indeed even more harmful than conventional valve replacement surgery.