Stentless full root bioprosthesis in surgery for complex aortic valve-ascending aortic disease:: a single center experience of over 300 patients

Objective: The technically demanding full root aortic valve replacement necessitating coronary ostia reimplantation apparently leads to hesitation by some surgeons despite the superior hemodynamics and excellent long-term clinical performances of the stentless xenografts. Clinical data of stentless full root replacements was retrospectively analyzed in this perspective for validation. Methods: From November 1999 to March 2007, 317 adult patients (mate: 196, female, 121) underwent modified Bio-Bentall procedure using the Medtronic Freestyle xenograft as a full root replacement. Two hundred and three patients received an isolated root replacement or a root and ascending aortic replacement (ARR). In 114 patients a variety of concomitant procedures including coronary artery bypass grafting (n = 32), mitral valve repair (n = 11) and aortic arch replacement (n = 36) were performed. (ARR+). Results: Mean patient age was 70.3 +/- 10.2 years (range 17-94 years), 97 patients were 75 and older at time of procedure. Mean operative time for the ARR was 190 +/- 57 min with a clamp time of 88 +/- 27 min. Mean operative time for ARR+ group was 282 +/- 93 min with an average clamp time of 110 32 min. Overall operative mortality was 7.9% (25/317), for ARR it was 5.4% (11/203). Mean ICU stay was 4.9 +/- 8.1 days, mean hospital stay being 9.8 +/- 8.1 days. Necessity for bailout bypass surgery among patients with ARR was low at 1.5% (3/203) comparable to stented xenograft implantations. Echocardiography demonstrated excellent clinical results with tow transvalvular gradients especially when a single suture inflow anastomosis technique was used. Conclusions: Full root stentless valve implantation preserving porcine root integrity is a valuable option in aortic valve/ascending aorta surgery. Though technically a more challenging operation, it does not lead to increased perioperative morbidity and mortality and can be beneficial mainly for elderly patients with small aortic roots with or without aortic root pathology. (C) 2008 European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.