[Risks and long-term results or tricuspid monovalvular replacement, using a ball or disk prosthesis. Apropos of 21...

21 patients (15 with stage IV and 6 with stage III symptoms by the NYHA classification) underwent monovalvular tricuspid replacement with a ball or disc prosthesis for varying tricuspid pathology, bacterial endocarditis in half the cases, between June 1964 and July 1973. Hospital mortality was 29 p. 100 (6 patients), medium-term mortality, nil. There were 23 survivors (62 p. 100) with an average follow up of 7 years (range 5 years to 10 years 4 months), 12 of whom recovered to stage I disability by the NYHA classification after the first postoperative year. 12 patients are on long-term anticoagulant therapy and 3 on diuretic or digitalo-diuretic therapy. The main complications observed were 2 prosthetic thromboses and 3 haemorrhages for 1095 patient-months. The results are to be compared with those bioprostheses, which, not requiring anti-coagulant therapy, may tend to supplant ball and disc prostheses.