Long-term follow-up of cloth-covered Starr-Edwards prostheses.

One hundred patients in whom cloth-covered Starr-Edwards prostheses were implanted have now been followed for 3 to 7 years. The hospital mortality rate was 5 per cent, and survival at five years was 70 per cent. Complications related to valve design occurred in 8 per cent (4 per cent fatal). The majority of late deaths and poor results were related to progressive cardiac disease rather than valve-related complications. The results indicate that cloth-covered prostheses have significantly lowered the incidence of thromboembolism and eliminated poppet dysfunction. The problem of strut cloth wear was clinically observed only twice in 500 patient-years of follow-up.