Aortic valve repair: indications and outcomes.

Aortic valve replacement has traditionally been the treatment of choice for patients with aortic valve insufficiency with or without aortic root pathology. Aortic valve repair is emerging as an attractive treatment alternative that avoids the long-term risks associated with prosthetic valve implantation including thromboembolism, endocarditis, prosthetic valve deterioration, and anticoagulation related hemorrhage. Important achievements in this discipline have occurred over the past decade including development and refinement of valve preserving aortic root replacement techniques, development of a classification system for aortic insufficiency, surgical approaches to cusp disease with varying cusp anatomy. As surgical techniques for aortic valve repair continue to evolve, clinical outcomes up to and beyond the first decade are promising with excellent survival and low risk of valve related events.