| Perivalvular Leakage after Aortic
Valve Replacement with a FreestyleTM Stentless Valve |
(Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Ishinkai
Yao General Hospital, Osaka, Japan)
| Tatsuya Kiji |
Akimitsu Yamaguchi |
Hiroshi Kumano |
|
A 67-year-old man with aortic insufficiency
underwent aortic valve replacement (AVR) with a FreestyleTM
valve (Medtronic Inc.), using the complete subcoronary technique.
Although a trivial aortic insufficiency remained on postoperative
echocardiography, he continued without chest symptoms. A cardiac
murmur developed and dyspnea on effort appeared five months postoperatively.
Echocardiography and aortography showed severe aortic insufficiency,
and a re-do AVR was performed seven months after the first procedure.
Examination of the Freestyle valve revealed that two loops of
the suture line on the inflow side of the valve had become detached
from the muscular tissue. It is most important to keep the geometry
of the Freestyle valve at the time of the implantation using
the subcoronary technique, and an unsuitable implantation can
cause consequent perivalvular leakage.
Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 30: 308-310 (2001) |
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