title: Tricuspid valve replacement with the St. Jude Medical valve.
abstract: A study was conducted on 20 patients who underwent tricuspid valve replacement (TVR) with the St. Jude Medical (SJM) valve. Isolated TVR was performed on 9 patients, and additional mitral, or mitral and aortic valve replacements were performed on 11 patients. Four patients (20%) died in the early postoperative period, but there were no deaths related to the SJM valve in the tricuspid position. The mean follow-up period of the 16 survivors was 74.4 months, and there have been no deaths during the follow-up period. The postoperative actuarial survival rate was 80%, 10 years after surgery. Three patients, representing 0.25%/patient-months, developed valve thrombosis, the valve thrombosis-free rate being 72.8%, 10 years after surgery, while entrapment of a leaflet by endothelial pannus was found in one patient, representing 0.08%/patient-months. Thus, the incidence of all prosthetic valve-related complications was 0.34%/patient-months, and the postoperative complication-free rate was 65.3%, 10 years after surgery. The medium-term follow-up study of TVR with the SJM valve revealed no prosthetic valve-related deaths and a relatively low incidence of prosthetic valve-related complications. However, as with other mechanical valves, valve thrombosis was a major risk posed by the SJM valve in the tricuspid position.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawara
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oryoji
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kosuga
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohishi
mesh_terms: D000206:Actuarial Analysis; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D004696:Endocarditis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006327:Heart Block / Q000209:etiology; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D012086:Reoperation; D015996:Survival Rate; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000209:etiology; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000601:surgery*