Abstract
Between November 1996 and August 1997, 8 patients had aortic valve replacement with the ATS Advanced Performance (AP) series valve. One patient had aortic regurgitation, 2 had aortic stenosis, and 3 had steno-regurgitation. The mean age of the patients was 53±8 (range 43-64) years; one was a man and 7 women. AP 18 mm was used for 5 patients and AP 20 mm for 3. No patients died in hospital. One patient with coronary spastic angina needed percutaneous cardiopulmonary support (PCPS) and intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP) soon after the operation. One patient who had simultaneous mitral valve replacement, had an embolic attack with atrial fibrillation on the day after operation. No other serious events were observed. Peak transprosthetic pressure gradient with the ATS AP 18mm valve was 28.0±1.2 mmHg (n=5) and there was no significant difference compared to that with the standard St. Jude Medical (SJM) 21mm valve (n=8, 25.1±3.9 mmHg). LDH value with the ATS AP 18 mm valve was 517±48 u/l (n=5) and there was no significant difference compared to that with the standard SJM 21mm valve (n=6, 497±132 u/l). Early experience suggests that the ATS AP series valve had excellent hemodynamic characteristics in the aortic valve replacement.
