[Late results of aortic valve plasty (aortic leaflet slicing) simultaneously performed with mitral valve surgery]

We followed the course of 20 patients who underwent aortic valve plasty (AVP) combined with mitral valve surgery for rheumatic mild aortic valve disease in association with severe mitral valve disease. At operation, all patients underwent aortic leaflet slicing with a knife, and aortic commissurotomy were performed additionally in 10 patients. After surgery, the degree of aortic valve regurgitation and the amplitude of aortic leaflet motion were assessed chronologically, using ultrasound cardiography. One month after surgery, all but one patients showed a reduction in regurgitation to degree I or less. From the third post-operative year, however aortic valve regurgitation tended to increase again. However, the post-operative degree of regurgitation was observed not to be severer than the pre-operative degree of regurgitation, and no patients showed aggravation of aortic valve regurgitation attributable to exacerbation of mitral valve disease. We divided the patients into two groups according to improvement of aortic valve regurgitation. In the group where the degree of regurgitation returned to the pre-operative one, the degree of amplitude of leaflet motion began to reduce from the third post-operative year and was nearly equal to the pre-operative one at the fifth post-operative year. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1. From the third post-operative year, aortic regurgitation was aggravated and aortic valve motion amplitude decreased. 2. The number of sliced valve leaflets and incised commissures did not correlate well with the post-operative reduction in regurgitation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)