Bicuspid aortic valve repair with external or subcommissural annuloplasty-echocardiographic prospective trial.

BACKGROUND: The incompetent bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) can be repaired using various techniques. This study presents a prospective comparison of external and subcommissural aortic annuloplasty. METHODS: Fifty consecutive patients (38 males, age: 43.9 ± 15.8 years) with BAV insufficiency with or without aortic dilatation underwent valve repair in a single institution. They were prospectively allocated to one of two groups based on the aortic annulus stabilization technique: 25 patients were operated on using the subcommissural annuloplasty (SCA) and 25 using the external complete annuloplasty (EA). Transthoracic echocardiography was performed in all patients before the operation and 1 and 3 years after the operation. Moreover, mortality and morbidity at 7 years were evaluated. RESULTS: In prospective echocardiographic comparison, EA was associated with smaller diameter of the aortic annulus (24.1 ± 2.6 mm vs. 25.8±2.1 mm, p < .05) and lower mean and peak transvalvular gradients (7 ± 4 mmHg vs. 13 ± 4 mmHg, p = .02 and 15.3 ± 9.7 mmHg vs. 20.7 ± 5.6 mmHg, p = .03, respectively). No patients died or required reoperation due to recurrent insufficiency at 6,81 (interquartile range-0,17) years after the operation. The Kaplan-Meier actuarial freedom from aortic regurgitation (AR) grade =2 or gradient > 20 mmHg at 35.1 ± 3.6 months years was 96% (24 out of 25) for patients who had external annuloplasty and amounted to 76% (19 out of 25) for those who had SCA, p = .05). CONCLUSIONS: External annuloplasty performed during repair of the BAV is associated with better hemodynamics at medium-term follow-up compared to SCA.

The evaluation of annuloplasty in bicuspid aortic valve repair using cardiac magnetic resonance.

BACKGROUND: The incompetent bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) can be replaced or repaired using various surgical techniques. This study sought to assess the efficacy of external annuloplasty and postoperative reverse remodelling using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and compare the results of external and subcommissural annuloplasty. METHODS: Out of a total of 200 BAV repair performed between 2004 and 2018, 21 consecutive patients (median age 54 years) with regurgitation requiring valve repair with annuloplasty without concomitant aortic root surgery were prospectively referred for CMR and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) one year after the operation. Two aortic annulus stabilization techniques were used: external, circumferential annuloplasty (EA), and subcommissural annuloplasty (SCA). RESULTS: 11 patients received EA and 10 patients were treated using SCA. There was no in-hospital mortality and all patients survived the follow-up period (median: 12.6 months (first quartile: 6.6; third quartile: 14.1). CMR showed strong correlation between postoperative aortic recurrent regurgitant fraction and left ventricular end-diastolic volume (r = 0.62; p = 0.003) as well as left ventricular ejection fraction (r = -0.53; p = 0.01). Patients treated with EA as compared with SCA had larger anatomic aortic valve area measured by CMR (3.5 (2.5; 4.0) vs. 2.5 cm2 (2.0; 3.4); p = 0.04). In both EA and SCA group, aortic valve area below 3.5 cm2 correlated with no regurgitation recurrency. EA (vs. SCA) was associated with lower peak transvalvular aortic gradients (10 (6; 17) vs. 21 mmHg (15; 27); p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: The repair of the bicuspid aortic valve provides significant postoperative reverse remodelling, provided no recurrent regurgitation and durable reduction annuloplasty can be achieved. EA is associated with lower transvalvular gradients and higher aortic valve area assessed by CMR, compared to SCA.