Valve-sparing Aortic Root Replacement: Defining High-volume Centres Using Prospective Data

Valve-sparing aortic root replacement (VSARR) is technically demanding and may vary in institutional procedural volumes, rendering the establishment of thresholds for centres of expertise challenging. This study aims to identify an annual case volume that could define a high-volume centre for VSARR using data from the Heart Valve Society Aortic Valve (HVS AV) database.

All consecutive elective patients undergoing VSARR within the HVS AV database were included. The primary early outcome was a composite of mortality, thromboembolic events, reinterventions, intraoperative conversions, and recurrent aortic regurgitation grade ≥2 within 30 days. The primary long-term outcome was freedom from AV reintervention. Volume-outcome (V-O) associations were modelled using restricted cubic splines; the high-volume threshold was derived using the elbow method. Analyses were adjusted for EuroSCORE II.

In total, 2668 patients from 37 centres were included. Annual volume was not significantly associated with the early composite outcome (P = .8003). However, a significant non-linear V-O association was found for long-term AV reintervention-free survival (P = .0023), with improved outcomes at centres performing ≥12 cases per year (95% CI, 10-12). These results were consistent in sensitivity analyses (P < .0001).

An annual institutional volume of ≥12 VSARRs is associated with improved long-term valve durability and survival, while early postoperative outcomes appear less sensitive to annual case load given their low event rates. This high-volume threshold may serve as a benchmark for centres already experienced in AV and/or root surgery and guide quality improvement efforts.