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Weights of individual cusps in operatively-excised congenitally bicuspid stenotic aortic valves
William C Roberts1, Jong Mi Ko
1Baylor Heart & Vascular Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75246, USA. wc.roberts@baylorhealth.edu
Abstract:
We weighed each cusp separately in 200 operatively excised stenotic congenitally bicuspid aortic valves. It was found in 152 patients (76%) that the cusps differed (by > 0.2 g) in weight and in 48 patients (24%) that the cusps were of similar (a < or = 0.2 g difference) weights. In 161 of the 200 patients (80%), raphes were present in 1 cusp; the raphe and nonraphe cusps differed in weight in 120 patients (74%), with the raphe cusps being larger in 89 patients (74%), and were of similar weights in 41 patients (26%). Of the 39 patients with raphes in neither cusp, 32 cusps (82%) differed in weight and 7 (18%) were of similar weights. The weight of each cusp differed more as the total valve weights increased.
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