title: Extended survival of a porcine mitral bioprosthesis for 23 years: report of a case.
abstract: Limited durability is the major drawback of bioprosthetic valves, few of which survive for as long as 20 years. We report herein the case of a patient we recently encountered in whom a bioprothesis lasted for 23 years. To our knowledge, this is only the second case of such long survival. The patient was a 56-year-old man who was urgently admitted to our hospital with acute mitral regurgitation, 23 years after undergoing mitral valve replacement with a porcine bioprosthesis. Acute leaflet tears were found to be the cause of the mitral incompetence and the xenograft was successfully replaced with a mechanical valve. We believe that when reoperation is thought to carry a low risk, prophylactic surgery might be justified, even in patients without symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamauchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Obama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abe
mesh_terms: D001705:Bioprosthesis; D006085:Graft Survival; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008943:Mitral Valve; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000601:surgery; D012086:Reoperation; D013997:Time Factors