Successful bicuspid aortic valve repair using external aortic annuloplasty.

ABSTRACT

A 33-year-old man presented with severe aortic insufficiency due to a prolapsed bicuspid aortic valve. The ventriculoaortic junction was dilated to 29 mm without root dilatation, and external ring annuloplasty was performed using a Gelweave (Terumo, Tokyo, Japan) graft to reduce the size to 22 mm. The leaflets were repaired by dividing and suturing a raphe between the right and left cusps. This combination provided adequate coaptation depth (8 mm) and showed excellent results, with trivial aortic insufficiency. This approach is suitable for repair of a bicuspid aortic valve with a dilated ventriculoaortic junction without root dilatation.