Abstract
The use of small aortic valve prostheses raises concerns about harmful effects of residual obstruction to left ventricular outflow. The present study was undertaken to examine long-term clinical and echocardiographic results in 193 patients who underwent isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) with a St Jude Medical (SJM) valve of 25 mm or smaller. The study subjects comprised 128 male and 65 female patients with a mean age of 54.1 years. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the size of the valve prosthesis used for AVR. Small valves (19 or 21 mm) were implanted in 49 patients (group S) and large valves (23 or 25 mm) were used in 144 patients (group L). The group S patients were mainly female, older, and had smaller body surface areas. There were no significant differences in early and late mortality in group S as compared with group L. Furthermore, there was no difference in the incidence of valve-related or cardiac, non-valve-related death, including the incidence of sudden death, between the 2 groups, and they enjoy a similar level of daily routine activity regardless of the valve size used. Left ventricular (LV) function (ejection fraction, fractional shortening, LV mass index, LV end-systolic volume index, and LV end-diastolic volume index) measured by echocardiography improved significantly and returned to normal values after AVR in both groups. Moreover, no significant differences were observed in the postoperative variables of the LV function. These results suggest that 19-mm and 21-mm SJM valves can be safely used for AVR in the majority of Japanese patients. (Jpn Circ J 1998; 62: 244 - 248)
