title: Midterm results of size-reduced cryopreserved homografts for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Size reduction of valved homografts has been investigated for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction because of limited supply of small-sized grafts. However, follow-up results are lacking.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 1997 to 2007, 45 patients underwent placement of 34 pulmonary and 11 aortic, size-reduced bicuspid homografts for right ventricle to pulmonary artery connection, which was part of a Rastelli-type operation (n = 35; 78%), redo right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction (n = 5; 11%), double-switch operation (n = 3; 7%), or palliative right ventricle to pulmonary artery connection (n = 2; 4%). Mean age at surgery was 20.0 +/- 24.4 months. Twenty patients (44%) were younger than 1 year old. Mean body weight was 9.6 +/- 7.1 kg. Diameter of the bicuspid conduit was 15.0 +/- 1.5 mm (z value, 3.4 +/- 1.9). Graft dysfunction was defined as pressure gradient greater than 50 mm Hg or moderate or greater regurgitation on follow-up echocardiography. Survival, freedom from graft explantation, and freedom from graft dysfunction were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Risk factor for graft dysfunction was evaluated by multivariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 2 (4.4%) early deaths. During a mean follow-up of 49.4 +/- 37.2 months, 13 patients showed graft dysfunction. Five of them had their grafts explanted. Freedom from graft explantation was 100% at 1 year after implantation, 97.4% +/- 2.5% at 3 years, and 89.0% +/- 6.2% at 5 years. Freedom from graft dysfunction was 92.4% +/- 4.2% at 1 year, 78.8% +/- 7.3% at 3 years, and 52.9% +/- 10.9% at 5 years. Diagnosis of truncus arteriosus was identified as a factor for graft dysfunction (p = 0.028).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Size-reduced homografts may provide an alternative for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction when an appropriately sized homograft is unavailable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji-Hyuk
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Tae-Gook
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.forename: Kiick
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Wook Sung
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young Tak
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Pyo Won
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000637:transplantation*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015925:Cryopreservation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D011664:Pulmonary Valve / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000637:transplantation*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014694:Ventricular Outflow Obstruction / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*