[Heart valve prosthesis in children and adolescents with aortic valve insufficiency].

Aortic valve prosthetic replacement in children and adolescents helps to improve their haemodynamics, and favourably affects the course of the rheumatic process. The correction of the defect is indicated in the presence of appropriate subjective and objective symptoms of aortic valve insufficiency. The lumen of the aorta was so large in many children that it permitted the employment of prostheses for adults. Calcification of the aortic valve was found in 9 of the 31 patients, which contradicts the commonly accepted belief of a low incidence of calcification in this disease in children. Hospital mortality and postoperative complications rate did not exceed those in aortic valve replacement in adults. The comparatively fast reduction of the heart size and the positive dynamics of the functional parameters in children and adolescents may be due to the high plasticity of the cardiovascular system in this age-group.