Sutureless 3F Enable Valve Replacement for Pure Aortic Regurgitation

Background and AimWe present our experience in the use of the sutureless valve in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement for pure aortic regurgitation. MethodsOut of 167 patients who underwent sutureless aortic valve implantation with a Medtronic 3f Enable prosthesis in our unit between March 2011 and February 2014, 12 (7.1%) received a sutureless valve for pure aortic regurgitation. ResultsMean age, logistic EuroSCORE, and left ventricular ejection fraction were 725 years, 6.3 +/- 2.9%, and 52.5 +/- 15.3%, respectively. The sutureless valve could be successfully implanted in all cases; nine patients had a full sternotomy (associated coronary artery bypass graft in four cases and associated mitral surgery in five), one patient had a ministernotomy, and two had a thoracoscopic approach. Average cross-clamping and cardiopulmonary bypass times were 90 +/- 30 and 127 +/- 51 minutes, respectively. At the outpatient echocardiography, average mean gradient was 10.54 +/- 4.99mmHg and a grade I-II paravalvular leakage (PVL) was detected in the first patient of the cohort (ministernotomy approach). At a mean follow-up of 11.1 +/- 5.5 months, average mean gradient was 9.75 +/- 2.87mmHg, no new PVL was detected, and the known PVL was stable. No pacemaker implantation was required. ConclusionsImplantation of the 3f Enable sutureless valve is technically possible with pure aortic regurgitation in selected patients. Multicenter investigations are necessary to assess the mid-term benefits of such a device in this subset of patients.