The freestyle stentless aortic bioprosthesis: more about the subcoronary technique.

Two years after aortic valve replacement with a Freestyle stentless aortic xenograft using the partial scallop inclusion technique, late prosthetic valve endocarditis developed with abscess formation in the space between the porcine and native human aortic wall. The presence of such a periprosthetic dead space exposes the patient to increased postoperative pressure gradients and the risk of superinfection.