Long-Term Results of St. Jude Medical Prosthetic Valve Replacement in Children

Study of Mitral and Aortic position

Abstract

From January, 1979 through December, 1992, 77 children less than 15 years old old who underwent MVR (41 cases) or AVR (36 cases, including 29 Konno procedures), with SJM prostheses were discharged from our institute. Cumulative duration of follow up was 303.8 patient-years for MVR and 184.3 p-ys for AVR. There were three late deaths in the MVR group and two late deaths in the AVR group. Actuarial survival rates was 91.7±4.7% for MVR at 14 years and 94.4±3.9% for AVR at 12 years (N. S.). I n the MVR group, there were three cases of nonstructural dysfunction (0.99%/ p-y), one episode (0.33%/p-y) of thromboembolism, thrombosed valve, brain bleeding and prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) respectively. On the other hand, there was only one thromboembolism (0.54%/ p-y) in the AVR group. The results of valve replacement using SJM prostheses in children over a 12-year-period were satisfactory. Therefore, we continue to choose SJM mechanical valve as the first choice in children who require cardiac valve replacement.