[Pedicled aortic wall flap for the reconstruction of aortico-ventricular discontinuity--a case report]

A 55-year-old man was operated on urgently for aortic valve endocarditis complicated by an annular abscess at the base of the non-coronary leaflet extending down to the left ventricle. Rapidly progressive heart failure and presence of a friable-appearing vegetation on echocardiography were the indications for urgent operation. Preoperative electrocardiogram showed first degree A-V block. At operation the aortic valve was generally thickened with mild calcification about the commissures. Non-coronary cusp was severely deformed and was nearly detached at its base due to annular abscess formation. Native valve was completely excised and the abscess was debrided. A club or a tongue-shaped pedicled aortic wall flap was prepared to the left of the oblique aortotomy incision with its free end to the distal side of the aorta. The flap was folded inward at its pedicle about 1 cm above the non-coronary annulus and was used to patch the abscess cavity. The aortic valve was replaced with a SJM 23 mm aortic valve prosthesis. The remaining defect of the aortic wall was repaired with a patch of woven-dacron vascular prosthesis. Post-operative hemodynamics of the patient was uneventful and he was given a 6-week course of parenteral antibiotics. He developed complete A-V block during the operation, and a permanent pacemaker was implanted on the 6th postoperative day. One year after operation he has not had recurrent infection and is leading a normal life. When used in the repair of ventriculo-aortic discontinuity created by infective endocarditis, the pedicled aortic wall flap has several advantages. It is easily obtainable and can cover abscesses of almost any shape and size. Unlike aortic root homograft, there is no problem of availability. Technically it is relatively simple to prepare a flap, bring it down through the non-coronary sinus and suture over the abscess. Aortic wall has just appropriate thickness and strength to reinforce the weakened periannular area, and if the debrided cavity is deep, the flap can be folded to obtain double thickness. By using this flap, potentially infected cavity is covered and packed by autologous tissue alone, and the synthetic patch to repair the aortic wall defect is placed well away from the site of possible contamination. In addition to the use in infective endocarditis, the aortic wall flap can predictably be used in the repair of aortic annular defect created by over-zealous removal of calcium in the surgery of calcific aortic stenosis, and in intracardiac patching in aortic annular enlargement operation such as Manouguian operation. To our knowledge, the use of pedicled aortic wall flap for aortic annular reconstruction has not been reported in the literature.