Aortic valve replacement using a continuous suture technique

The continuous suture technique has been proposed as an alternate method for aortic valve replacement (AVR). Advantages include a decreased ischemic and bypass time. Despite reports of a low incidence of perivalvular leak, wide use of the continuous suture technique has not been adopted. This report reviews our experience with the continuous suture technique. From January 1984 through November 1991, 181 consecutive patients underwent AVR using the continuous suture technique. The mean age was 61 years (range 6 to 88 years). Diagnoses included pure aortic stenosis (AS) in 41%, aortic insufficiency (AI) in 31%, and a combination of AS and AI in 28%. Fifty-six patients underwent isolated AVR and 125 underwent AVR combined with other procedures. The overall early mortality was 5.5%. Early mortality for isolated AVR was 0% (0/56) and was 8.0% (10/125) for those undergoing concomitant procedures. Late mortality was 4.7% in a mean follow-up of 30 months (range 1 to 86 months). The incidence of perivalvular leak was 2.3% (4/171 operative survivors). Perivalvular leak was mild in two, and moderate in two; none required reoperation. Perivalvular leak developed only in patients whose suture line was not reinforced with glutaraldehyde treated pericardium. The continuous suture technique is a quick and effective method for AVR and results in a low incidence of perivalvular leak.