title: Early valvular obliteration of cryopreserved aortic valve allograft.
abstract: This report describes a 60-year-old male patient who developed early valvular obliteration of a cryopreserved aortic valve allograft with associated severe valvular leakage. The patient had previously undergone two operations for aortic valve insufficiency resulting from infective endocarditis, and prosthetic valve endocarditis: aortic valve replacement with a mechanical prosthesis was done 4 years ago, and two years later aortic root replacement with a cryopreserved allograft was performed. Perforation through the non-coronary cusp of the aortic allograft was found, and valve replacement was achieved using a mechanical prosthesis. The intraoperative findings, histological, immunological, and bacteriological studies of the resected cusps demonstrated negative for infection and rejection, therefore, the valvular perforation might have been caused by an injury or degeneration during management of the homologous graft. The patient showed neither aortic regurgitation on echocardiography nor recurrence of endocarditis 10 months after surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohtsuka
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Motomura
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kotsuka
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takamoto
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takazawa
mesh_terms: D001021:Aortic Valve; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D015925:Cryopreservation; D004452:Echocardiography; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D012086:Reoperation; D013997:Time Factors