The outcomes of triple-valve surgery: eleven years' experience from a single center.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Triple-valve surgery is a challenging and complex procedure with significant risk, even at centers experienced at performing such operations. The study aim was to investigate the early and late outcomes of this surgery, performed at a single center for the past 11 years. METHODS: A total of 45 consecutive patients (19 males, 26 females; mean age 69.42 +/- 12.72 years) underwent triple-valve surgery at the authors' institution between 2000 and 2011. The mean logistic EuroSCORE was 22.46 +/- 12.8%. The most common aortic valve pathology was calcific degeneration (40%), while the mitral valves were mostly rheumatic (31%) or degenerative (26%). The tricuspid valve pathology was functional regurgitation in 64% of patients. The aortic valve procedures were all replacements, while the mitral valves were either repaired (n = 20) or replaced (n = 25). The tricuspid valves were almost exclusively repaired (n = 43). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to highlight predictors of mortality. A Kaplan-Meier analysis was also performed. RESULTS: The operative mortality was 8.9% (n = 4). Survival at one, three, and five years was 91%, 85.5% and 66.4%, respectively. Morbidity was not particularly high: the incidence of all postoperative neurological complications was 13%, that of transient renal impairment was 18%, and pacemaker implantation 8.9%. CONCLUSION: The results of triple-valve surgery were considerably improved compared to historical reports. Early mortality was close to that occurring after less complex procedures, while late survival was comparable to that after single-valve surgery. It is believed that the best results are achieved by centers experienced in valve procedures. Compared to older studies, rheumatic disease was not the most frequent requirement for of triple-valve surgery among the present patients.

Repair of acute type A aortic dissection: results in 100 patients.

To determine short- and long-term outcomes after repair of type A aortic dissection, we reviewed data of 100 consecutive patients (64 men; mean age, 63 ± 12.2 years) who underwent acute type A aortic dissection repair between January 2000 and June 2008. They were divided into group A, open anastomosis (circulatory arrest; n = 59) and group B, closed anastomosis (no circulatory arrest; n = 41). Aortic valve re-suspension or replacement was performed in 77 patients, aortic root replacement in 29, and aortic arch procedures in 31. The median follow-up was 2.8 years (range, 0-8.6 years). The 30-day mortality was 14%; 16.9% in group A and 9.8% in group B. None of the 23 variables analyzed to determine predictors of death or stroke was significant on multivariate analysis. Postoperatively, there was no difference between the 2 groups with respect to stroke, sepsis, renal failure, multiorgan failure, or reoperation. Overall actuarial survival at 1, 3, 5, and 8 years was not significantly different between the 2 groups. Considerable morbidity is still associated with repair of type A aortic dissection, despite a significant improvement in mortality.

Outcome after redo-mitral valve replacement in adult patients: a 10-year single-centre experience.

The aim of this study was to investigate the overall outcome of adult patients undergoing redo-mitral valve replacement (redo-MVR) at our institution. Forty-nine patients (24 males) underwent redo-MVR with either bioprosthetic (n = 24) or mechanical valves (n = 25) between January 2000 and 2010. Median age of patients was 63 years (range 21-80 years), and the mean additive EuroSCORE was 12 ± 4. Median time to re-operation was 8.2 ± 6.6 years for first time redo-MVR and 6.4 ± 5.6 years for second-time redo-MVR. Indications included prosthetic endocarditis (n = 22), para-prosthetic leak (n = 12), structural valve degeneration (n = 8), prosthetic valve thrombosis (n = 6) and malignancy (n = 1). The mean follow-up was 47.5 ± 37.0 months (range 0.1-112.3 months). In-hospital mortality was 12% (n = 6). Mean hospital stay was 17 ± 11 days (range 8-50 days). Actuarial survival at 1 and 5 years was 81 ± 5% and 72 ± 6%, respectively. Three patients required re-intervention: two for prosthetic valve endocarditis and one for para-prosthetic leak. Multivariate analysis showed that overall survival was associated with the LVEF < 50% (P < 0.001), concomitant AVR (P < 0.001) and urgent surgery (P = 0.03).

Aortic valve replacement in patients with previous coronary artery bypass grafting: 10-year experience.

UNLABELLED: OBJECTIVES; This study aimed to investigate the early and late outcomes of patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) with previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and patent grafts. METHODS: Between January 2000 and March 2010, 104 patients (87 males) with previous CABG ± concomitant surgery and patent grafts underwent AVR. The median age of the patients was 75 years (range: 37-90 years; inter-quartile range: 69-79 years) and the mean logistic EuroScore was 25.37 ± 16.8. The median time since the previous operation was 9 years (range 1-25; inter-quartile range: 7-14 years). The left internal mammary artery (LIMA) had been used in 75 patients (72.1%) and remained patent in 72 cases (96.0%). RESULTS: Thirty-day mortality was 7.7% (n = 8), which is less than the predicted mean logistic EuroScore. Isolated AVR was performed in 66 patients (63.5%). The LIMA was dissected and isolated (clamped or blocked with balloon) in 60 patients. The median hospital stay was 10 days (range: 4-183 days; inter-quartile range: 7-15.25 days). Nineteen patients (18.3%) had pulmonary complications, while 12 (11.5%) had acute kidney injury. Seven patients (6.7%) required permanent pacemaker. Six LIMAs (8.3%) were injured and repaired. Prolonged aortic cross-clamp (AXC) time (P = 0.038) and the presence of a previous LIMA graft (P = 0.045) were identified as independent predictors of 30-day mortality. The actuarial survival at 1 and 5 years was 89.4 ± 0.3 and 81.5 ± 0.5%, respectively. Perioperative intra-aortic balloon pump use (P = 0.036), prolonged AXC time (P = 0.004) and prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time (P = 0.022) were associated with worse long-term overall survival on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: AVR post-CABG with patent grafts can be performed in high-risk patients with excellent short- and long-term outcomes and appears to be superior to published catheter-based interventions. In the absence of randomized trial data, we believe that open AVR remains the treatment of choice for aortic valve disease following prior CABG.

Long-term outcome following repair of acute type A aortic dissection after previous cardiac surgery.

We evaluated the outcome after repair for acute spontaneous type A aortic dissection in patients with previous cardiac surgery. From January 2000 to December 2009, 114 patients underwent emergency repair for acute spontaneous type A dissection at Southampton University Hospital. Eleven (median age 64 years; range 36-83 years; two females) patients (9.8%) had undergone previous cardiac surgery and were included in this study. Aortic root replacement was performed in three patients (27%), aortic arch replacement in four patients (36%) and two patients (18%) required aortic valve re-suspension. The elephant trunk operation was performed in two patients (18%). There were two hospital deaths (18%). Two patients (18%) suffered a stroke, two needed re-opening for bleeding (18%) and two patients (18%) required haemofiltration postoperatively. Median length of hospital stay was 16 days (range 6-34 days). Actuarial survival at five and eight years for redo compared to first-time surgery was 68±3.63% vs. 81±5.34% and 51±3.8% vs. 61±5.4%, respectively (P=0.365). In conclusion, acute type A aortic dissection repair in patients with previous cardiac surgery has an acceptable mortality and comparable long-term outcome to first-time surgery.

Early and late clinical outcomes of pulmonary embolectomy for acute massive pulmonary embolism.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the early and late outcomes of patients undergoing pulmonary embolectomy for acute massive pulmonary embolus. METHODS: Twenty-one patients (15 male, 6 female) underwent pulmonary embolectomy at our institution between March 2001 and July 2010. The median age was 55 years (range, 24 to 70 years). Of these, 9 patients presented with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and 8 presented with New York Heart Association class III or IV. Sixteen patients underwent preoperative transthoracic echocardiography, which showed evidence of right ventricular dilatation in all, whereas in 14 patients (66.6%) pulmonary artery pressures were significantly elevated with moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation. The median preoperative Euroscore was 9 (range, 3 to 16), and 11 patients (52.1%) received systemic thrombolysis preoperatively. There were 6 salvage (28.5%), 10 emergency (47.6%), and 5 urgent (23.8%) procedures. Concomitant procedures were performed in 3 patients (14.2%), and surgery was performed without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass in 3 patients (14.2%). The median follow-up was 38 months (range, 0 to 114 months). RESULTS: The in-hospital mortality was 19% (n = 4). Postoperative complications included stroke (n = 3, 14.2%), lower respiratory tract infection (n = 6, 28.5%), wound infection (n = 3, 14.2%), acute renal failure requiring hemofiltration (n = 4, 19%), and supraventricular tachyarrhythmias (n = 4, 19%). At discharge, transthoracic echocardiography showed mild to moderate right ventricular dysfunction and dilatation in 11 survivors (64.7%). Two patients died during follow-up, and actuarial survival at 5 years was 76.9% ± 10.1% and at 8 years was 51.2% ± 22.0%. At final follow-up, 11 of the 15 survivors (73.3%) were New York Heart Association class I, and no patients required further intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who undergo surgery for massive pulmonary embolism have an acceptable outcome despite being high-risk.

Mid-term evaluation of Sorin Soprano bioprostheses in patients with a small aortic annulus

We set to examine the mid-term outcome after aortic valve replacement (AVR) with Soprano pericardial stented bioprosthesis measuring