Abstract
Isolated aortic (n=4), mitral (n=9), and double (n=1) valve replacements were performed with the Mitroflow pericardial valve in 14 patients from January to November in 1985. The mean age of these patients was 45.6 years. All patients were followed for a total of 85 patient-years (PY). There was one operative, non-valve related death in the patient with double valve replacement. Valve-related complications included one anticoagulant-related hemorrhage (1.2% of PY). one non-structural valve deterioration (hemolytic anemia) (1.2% of PY), and ten structural deteriorations (12.9% of PY). Afetr 9 years, freedom from reoperation was 8.6±2.6%. We concluded that this second generation pericardial valve, the Mitroflow valve, provides inferior clinical performance compared to the porcine aortic valve and its use has to be discontinued.
