Clinical and Echocardiographic Outcomes After Aortic Valve Repair Surgery

To assess early and late clinical outcomes in patients who underwent aortic valve repair surgery for aortic valve insufficiency, and to investigate predictors for recurrence.

Of 151 consecutive patients who underwent aortic valve repair surgery for varying degrees of aortic insufficiency (AI) in our department between 2004 and 2018, 60 (40%) underwent aortic root replacement, 71 (47%) aortic cusp plication, 31 (20%) subcommissural annuloplasty, 29 (19%) circular annuloplasty, and 28 (18%) autologous pericardial patch augmentation.

One patient died in the hospital (0.7%). Mean clinical and echocardiographic follow-up was 62±43 months (range 1 to 159) and 50 ± 40 months (range 1 to 158), respectively. The overall survival rate was 99.3% at 1 year and 98% at 5 years of follow-up. Seventeen patients (11.3%) had recurrent severe AI, and all of them underwent reoperation with a mean duration to reoperation of 35 ± 39 months. Risk factors for the development of recurrent significant AI (≥3) or reoperation, by univariable analysis, were unicuspid or bicuspid aortic valve (AV) (P = 0.018), the use of subcommissural annuloplasty (P = 0.010), the need for cusp repair (P = 0.001), and the use of pericardial patch augmentation (P < 0.001). By multivariable analysis only the use of pericardial patch augmentation emerged as a significant independent predictor for the development of recurrent significant AI (≥3) or reoperation (P = 0.020).

AV repair can be performed with low morbidity and mortality, with good early and late clinical outcomes. However, in our experience there was a significant rate of recurrent AI especially in patients who underwent cusp augmentation using glutaraldehyde-treated autologous pericardial patch.