Successful pregnancy and delivery after pulmonary autograft operation (Ross procedure) for rheumatic aortic valve insufficiency.

A young woman with aortic valve insufficiency secondary to rheumatic heart disease underwent replacement of her diseased aortic valve with her own pulmonary valve and replacement of her pulmonary valve with an aortic cadaver homograft, the Ross procedure. She went on to conceive and deliver a normal infant. The Ross procedure is the operation of choice in a young woman with aortic valve disease, since it avoids anti-coagulation fetal loss, valve deterioration and other maternal risk from pregnancy associated with other valve replacement options.