title: Late results of prosthetic valve replacement for aortic regurgitation and the prognostic significance of the end-diastolic and regurgitated blood volumes.
abstract: Between January 1975 and December 1985 214 patients underwent prosthetic aortic valve replacement for isolated aortic regurgitation. Patient follow-up averaged 5.4 years after the operation (range 0.7-10.7 years). Preoperative staging showed 9 patients to be in NYHA stage II, 111 patients in stage III, and 94 patients in stage IV. At follow-up 3 patients complained of increased fatigue, 9 patients remained stable and 167 patients had improved. 103 of these patients were free of symptoms under stress, i.e. NYHA stage I. The hospital mortality was 3.7% (8/214 patients). An additional 26 patients died within an average of 2.8 years. The cumulative 5-year survival rate was 85%; the 10-year survival rate was 81.5%. 10 patients underwent a second operation within an average of 3.4 years. The correlation between the end-diastolic volume and the regurgitated blood volume has prognostic significance. 25 patients with appropriate enlargement of the left ventricle showed a significant decrease of the end-diastolic volume and the roentgenographic heart volume combined with an increase of ejection fraction. None of these 25 patients died from cardiac complications. A control group of 9 patients with myocardial damage showed no significant change in the above parameters. 4 patients in the control group died. We conclude that the relationship of regurgitated blood volume and the left ventricular end-diastolic volume is of prognostic significance for patients with chronic aortic regurgitation presenting with minimal symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, J. W. Goethe-University, Frankfurt/M., FRG.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skupin
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Klepzig
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beyersdorf
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Elsaesser
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaltenbach
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Satter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001021:Aortic Valve; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D013318:Stroke Volume