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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Standardized Technique of Aortic Valve Re-implantation for Valve-sparing Aortic Root Replacement
14:14

Standardized Technique of Aortic Valve Re-implantation for Valve-sparing Aortic Root Replacement

Published on: December 11, 2017

Unexpected left ventricular free-wall rupture following an aortic catheter-valve implantation

Enrico Ferrari1, Elena Rizzo, Christopher Sulzer

  • 1Department of Cardio-Vascular Surgery, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland. enricoferrari@bluewin.ch

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery : Official Journal of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
|August 22, 2009
PubMed

Our experience with the Sapien trans-apical aortic valve (Edwards Lifesciences Inc., Irvine, CA, USA) has been straightforward without per-procedural mortality except in 1/16 consecutive cases who developed non-apical haemorrhage early after valve implantation. We describe the case of an 84-year-old female carrying a very high operative risk (logistic EuroScore of 44%), who underwent a trans-apical stent-valve implantation for severe and symptomatic aortic valve stenosis (23 mm). Due to massive blood loss, an emergency sternotomy and cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass resuscitation were necessary to treat (without success) an unusual and unexpected subaortic left ventricular free-wall rupture that occurred few minutes after the stent-valve positioning and implantation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first described case of a left ventricular free-wall rupture occurring after an otherwise non-complicated standard catheter-based aortic valve replacement.

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