Aortic valve-sparing operation versus Bentall and mechanical aortic valve replacement--midterm results.

OBJECTIVES: The primary aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate short-term (one-to-six months) and mid-term (six-to-forty-eight months) results of aortic valve-sparing procedures. The second endpoint was to compare the results with the group of patients undergoing mechanical aortic valve replacement during the same period. METHODS: Between April 2008 and May 2012 at our institution, we treated 76 patients either with ascending aorta/root aneurysm/dissection or with isolated aortic regurgitation. A total of seventy-six patients undergoing aortic valve surgery. RESULTS: Analyzed parameters were divided into two parts as function of time. In the first part, i.e. during hospitalization, the mortality, duration of hospitalization, duration of extra corporeal circulation (ECC), and duration of cardiac arrest (CA) were compared and assessed. In the second part, i.e. during monitoring of the patients after their discharge from hospital (one-to-six months, and six-to-forty-eight months), the grade of postoperative AR aimed mainly at the group of aortic valve-sparing operations (subgroups A1, A2, A3), postoperative peak gradient, presence of thromboembolic and bleeding complications, postoperative endocarditis and need for reoperation or hospitalization due to cardiac reasons were analyzed. CONCLUSION: Based on our first experience, we believe that in spite of higher technical difficulty, the aortic valve-sparing operations can be possibly performed with the same or respectively lower rate of postoperative morbidity and mortality. Presented results show that compared with the aortic valve replacement, the aortic valve-sparing operation is a promising method, and an interesting therapeutic alternative for patients. After proper indications, we consider it to be a method of choice (Tab. 6, Fig. 7, Ref. 28).

Severity of nocturnal cardiac arrhythmias correlates with intensity of sleep apnea in men.

Various cardiac arrhythmias frequently occur in patients with sleep apnea, but complex analysis of the relationship between their severity and the probable arrhythmogenic risk factors is conflicting. The question is what cardiovascular risk factors and how strongly they are associated with the severity of cardiac arrhythmias in sleep apnea. Adult males (33 with and 16 without sleep apnea), matched for cardiovascular co-morbidity were studied by polysomnography with simultaneous ECG monitoring. Arrhythmia severity was evaluated for each subject by a special 7-degree scoring system. Laboratory, clinical, echocardiographic, carotid ultrasonographic, ambulatory blood pressure, and baroreflex sensitivity values were also assessed. Moderate sleep apnea patients had benign, but more exaggerated cardiac arrhythmias than control subjects (2.53 ± 2.49 vs. 1.13 ± 1.64 degrees of cumulative severity, p < 0.05). We confirmed strong correlations between the arrhythmia severity and known arrhythmogenic risk factors (left ventricular ejection fraction and dimensions, right ventricular diameter, baroreflex sensitivity, carotid intima-media thickness, age, previous myocardial infarction, and also apnea-hypopnea index). In multivariate modelling only the apnea-hypopnea index indicating the sleep apnea intensity remained highly significantly correlated with the cumulative arrhythmia severity (beta = 0.548, p < 0.005). In conclusion, sleep apnea modifying cardiovascular risk factors and structures or functions provoked various nocturnal arrhythmias. The proposed scoring system allowed a complex analysis of the contribution of various triggers to arrhythmogenesis and confirmed the apnea-hypopnea index as an independent risk for nocturnal cardiac arrhythmia severity in sleep apnea.