Valve replacement with the CarboMedics bileaflet mechanical prosthesis: clinical results at midterm.

OBJECTIVE

We study the clinical midterm results of the valve replacement with the CarboMedics bileaflet mechanical prosthesis. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND

SETTING

Retrospective study. Institutional practice (National Cardiovascular Center, Osaka, Japan).

PATIENTS AND INTERVENTIONS: 167 CarboMedics prostheses were implanted in 144 patients from April, 1990 and December, 1993. Of these, 77 patients underwent isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR), 45 patients underwent isolated mitral valve replacement (MVR), 21 patients underwent double (aortic and mitral) valve replacement (DVR), and one patient underwent triple (aortic, mitral and tricuspid) valve replacement (TVR).

MEASURES: Events were defined in accordance with the guidelines for reporting morbidity and mortality after cardiac valve operations of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American Association for Thoracic Surgery.