title: Long-term survivors after valve replacement with a Starr-Edwards mitral disk valve prosthesis.
abstract: We report four long-term survivors after valve replacement with a Starr-Edwards (S-E) mitral caged-disk valve. A model 6520 disk valve, size 3M, had been used in all of the four patients. Of the four patients, three underwent replacement of the disk valves 23, 24, and 26 years after mitral valve replacement (MVR), respectively. A pacemaker was implanted in the remaining patient 33 years after MVR. The S-E disk valves were considered hemodynamically slightly stenotic compared with modern bileaflet valves. No disk wear was detected in any of the three explanted valves, and in the remaining patient, a noninvasive evaluation of the disk showed that it was functioning normally. These results suggest the favorable long-term durability of the S-E disk valve.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan. aoyagi@med.kurume-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shigeaki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukunaga
authors.forename: Eiki
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tayama
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arinaga
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: Tomokazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kosuga
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D007545:Isoproterenol / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000601:surgery*; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial
chemical_list: D007545:Isoproterenol