Surgical Outcomes in Behcet's Disease Patients With Severe Aortic Regurgitation

An optimal treatment for aortic regurgitation in Behcet's disease has not been established. We investigated the effect of operative technique, prosthetic material, and immunomodulation therapy on surgical outcomes.

In this study, 23 patients with Behcet's disease surgically treated for aortic regurgitation were assessed. Significant postoperative events were defined as death, aortic valve or graft-related problem(s), infective endocarditis, disabling stroke, and aortic valve or root reoperation. Surgical procedures were classified as isolated aortic valve replacement, bioprosthetic root replacement, and mechanical root replacement. Allograft root replacements were included in the bioprosthetic root replacement group.

A total of 40 operations, including 39 aortic valve or root surgeries and 1 orthotopic heart transplantation, were performed on patients confirmed with Behcet's disease. However, the study only reviewed 35 of the 40 cases (4 cases with inadequately documented medical records and 1 heart transplantation case were excluded). Significant adverse events occurred in 8 of 11 (73%) isolated aortic valve replacement, 9 of 12 (75%) bioprosthetic root replacement (5 xenografts and 7 allografts), and 4 of 12 (33%) mechanical root replacement cases. Multivariate analysis revealed that the 1-month postdischarge C-reactive protein level and operative age were independent predictive factors for postoperative event-free survival. Mechanical root replacement was identified as the most significant predictive factor leading to positive outcomes (hazard ratio, 0.147; 95% confidence interval, 0.028 to 0.766; p = 0.023).

The findings suggest that mechanical root replacement combined with a low postoperative C-reactive protein level maintained through adjunctive immunomodulation therapy may lead to optimal surgical outcomes in Behcet's disease associated with severe aortic regurgitation.