Long-term management of patients with cardiac valve prostheses

Marked improvements have been achieved in the results of valve replacement due to recent developments in cardiac valve prostheses, surgical procedures, myocardial protection methods, and supportive techniques. Since 1974, the aortic valve has been replaced with mechanical valves and the mitral valve with biological valves at our institution. During a cumulative follow-up of 1024 patient-years after 306 valve replacements (126 AVR, 148 MVR and 32 AVR + MVR), the 10-year survival rates were 88% for AVR, 72.6% for MVR and 77.5% for AVR + MVR. The cardiac function of 90% of the survivors was evaluated as Class I or II according to NYHA Functional Classification. As for valve-related postoperative complications, thromboembolism was observed in 2.3%/pt-yr, hemorrhage in 0.5%/pt-yr, prosthetic valve endocarditis in 1.3%/pt-yr, perivalvular regurgitation in 1.3%/pt-yr and valve malfunction in 1.1%/pt-yr. Of the causes of late deaths, 62.5% were related to valve complications. Re-replacement of the prosthesis was necessary in 17 patients due to valve-related complications, and early death occurred in 1 (5.9%) of these 17. While cardiac valve replacement contributes to improvements in the quality of the patients' long-term postoperative life, currently employed artificial valves are still not ideal with regard to their materials and design, and re-replacement may become necessary in the late postoperative period. Therefore, in addition to selection of the appropriate valve prosthesis for different disorders and optimal prevention of valve-related complications, early diagnosis by non-invasive techniques and early treatment of these complications if they have occurred are of particular importance for the long-term management of patients following cardiac valve replacement.