Transient reduction in ejection fraction following aortic valve replacement for aortic regurgitation

In patients following aortic valve replacement (AVR) for aortic regurgitation, a transient reduction in ejection fraction (TREF) sometimes occurs in the postoperative period without a clear remediable cause, which leads to a spontaneous improvement without the need for a specific treatment.

To study the incidence and risk factors of TREF following AVR for aortic regurgitation.

We designed a single-centre retrospective observational study. A total of 164 patients were enrolled in the study: 82 in the regurgitation group and 82 in the stenosis group. Data were obtained from international registries and patient documentation.

There were statistically significant differences in TREF between the regurgitation and stenosis groups (9.76 % and 0 %, respectively, p = 0.004). There was zero hospital mortality in both regurgitation and stenosis groups. The presence of TREF had no impact on long-term survival.

Our results show that transient reduction in ejection fraction is a relatively common phenomenon following aortic valve replacement for aortic regurgitation and that in our study population it had no effect on short- and long-term survival (Tab. 2, Fig. 1, Ref. 15).