[Clinical and echocardiographic evaluation of the Medtronic-Hall 20A valve in the aortic position in patients with small aortic annulus: comparison with the 21 mmSJM valve].

We compared the results of Medtronic-Hall 20A aortic valve (MH20A) replacement with those of 21 mm SJM valve (SJM21A) replacement. The subjects were 17 patients who underwent aortic valve replacement with MH20A. The mean age was 65.4 +/- 8.8 years in the MH20A group. The average body surface area in the MH20A group was 1.37 +/- 0.08 m2, which was significantly smaller than in the SJM21A group (1.55 +/- 0.09 m2). The postoperative follow-up period was 51 months at maximum and 20 months on average. There was one hospital death and two late deaths in the MH20A group. The other patients were categorized NYHA I classification. The trans-valvular peak pressure gradient soon after surgery was 21 +/- 9.3 mmHg in the MH20A group, and 23.9 +/- 8.8 mmHg in the SJM21A group. Preoperative and late postoperative echocardiograms demonstrated significant decrease in mean left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and left ventricular end-systolic diameter in the both groups. Mean left ventricular hypertrophy was decreased to 22.8 +/- 4.6 mm from 25.0 +/- 3.9 mm in the MH20A group, and 24.1 +/- 4.3 mm from 28.5 +/- 5.6 mm in the SJM21A group. These data suggest that aortic valve replacement with MH20A is useful for patients who have smaller body surface area (< 1.50 m2) with a small aortic annulus.