Right ventricular outflow reconstruction with aortic homograft conduit: analysis of the long-term results.

One hundred and four patients with complex congenital heart disease were operated between 1966 and 1978 for reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow using an aortic homograft conduit. The average age was 14 years, ranging between 3 years and 28 years of age with an equal male/female ratio. Hospital mortality was 50% and there were 3 late deaths (6%) amongst the surviving 52 patients. Seventy-nine percent of the survivors are well and asymptomatic between 1 year and 12 years follow-up. Only 2 patients (4%) developed homograft conduit obstruction with a peak systolic gradient over 40 mmHg and 1 patient needed reoperation 9 years after the original primary reconstruction. Thirty-one patients underwent cardiac catheterization between 1 year and 9 years following the original operation, and a further 9 patients underwent a second cardiac catheterization at a mean of 36 months after their first cardiac catheterization. Ninety-three percent of these 31 patients had a resting peak systolic gradient across the homograft conduit of between 0 and 55 mmHg (mean 14.16 +/- 14.03). Calcification in the wall of the aortic homograft appeared within the first 2 years in about 80% of the patients but this had no correlation to the gradient across the homograft, nor did it interfere with the valve performance.