Evaluation of Aortic Paravalvular Leak: A Special Reference for Anatomical Localization.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Paravalvular leakage (PVL) remains an unavoidable complication of heart valve surgery and in its severe forms may lead to heart failure and hemolysis. The study aim was to evaluate the echocardiographic, clinical, surgical and laboratory characteristics of patients with aortic PVL. METHODS: A total of 77 aortic PVL patients underwent transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography examinations. Clinical, echocardiographical and surgical findings were also recorded. RESULTS: Among the 77 patients, 21 (27.3%) had mild, 33 (42.8%) had moderate and 23 (29.9%) had severe aortic PVL. Seventeen patients (22.1%) had moderate-to-severe hemolysis and had a higher incidence of multiple PVL compared to those with no or mild hemolysis. Moderate- to-severe PVL was more frequent between the non-coronary and the left coronary sinus annuli, especially adjacent to the left main coronary artery ostium. Percutaneous closure was performed in five patients. Eleven patients underwent surgical repair, and the localizations of PVL were in accordance with echocardiographic findings. CONCLUSIONS: Aortic PVL occurs more frequently between the non-coronary sinus and the left coronary sinus annuli, which may be associated with multiple factors. Difficulties in seating the prosthesis due to the steep angulation of the commissure and annulus, the avoidance of deep sutures, and focal annular calcification may make this region prone to injury and leakage.

Surgical treatment of late aortic prosthetic valve endocarditis: 19 years' experience.

AIM OF THE STUDY: We retrospectively analyzed the results of operations conducted for aortic prosthetic valve endocarditis in a single center over 19 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From February 1992 to January 2011, we performed operations on 27 patients with aortic prosthetic valve endocarditis. Seventeen patients (63.0%) were male, and the mean age was 39.1 ± 14.2 (16-67) years. Blood cultures were positive in 11 patients (40.7%), and the most commonly identified microorganism was Streptococcus (7 patients, 25.9%). The mean duration of follow-up was 8.6 ± 4.7 years (0.5-18.2), adding up to a total of 136.9 patient/years. RESULTS: Forty procedures were performed on these 27 patients. The most commonly performed procedure was aortic valve replacement with a prosthetic valve - 16 patients (59.3%). Fifteen patients were operated on during the active phase of infection. In-hospital mortality was observed in 11 patients (40.7%). Postoperatively, 12 patients (44.4%) had low cardiac output, 3 (11.1%) suffered from a heart block; none of them required permanent pacemaker implantation. The actuarial survival for 1 and 5 years was 55.6 ± 9.6% and 47.6 ± 9.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Prosthetic valve endocarditis of the aortic valve is a challenging situation for the surgeon. The surgical treatment carries a high mortality rate and long-term survival is low. Among the survivors, however, recurrence and the need for reoperation are unlikely.