Bileaflet mechanical valve (St. Jude Medical valve) replacement in long-term dialysis patients

Few reports exist on the results of bileaflet mechanical valve (St. Jude Medical prosthesis; St. Jude Medical, Inc, St. Paul, MN) replacement in long-term dialysis patients.

We retrospectively reviewed 12 patients, ranging in age from 50 to 86, undergoing long-term renal dialysis who had also undergone mechanical valve replacement at our institution. Operative procedures included aortic valve replacement, aortic and mitral valve replacement, aortic valve replacement and mitral annuloplasty, mitral valve replacement, and modified Bentall's operation. There was 1 hospital death (8.3%). During the mean follow-up period of 37.1 months (range: 5-87 months), there were 2 noncardiac late deaths. Bleeding from the esophageal varix and from a duodenal ulcer occurred in 1 patient with end-stage liver cirrhosis. There were no other major cases of bleeding or cerebrovascular accidents. There were no valve-related complications. All the survivors demonstrated excellent clinical improvement under the NYHA functional classification.

Our study demonstrated good early and long-term results of mechanical valve replacement in patients undergoing long-term dialysis. These favorable results support the continued use of mechanical valves in dialysis patients.