Clinical Experience of Aortic Valve Surgery in Patients With Aortitis Disease.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To investigate single center's clinical experiences of aortic valve surgery for aortitis patients. METHODS From January 2010 to December 2018, 15 patients with aortitis disease were treated in our center. Among them, there were 7 males and 8 females with an average age of 48.5 ± 13.9 (29-76) years. Six patients were diagnosed as giant cell arteritis, 2 as Takayasu arteritis (Arteritis Group, N = 8) and 7 as Behcet's disease (BD Group, N = 7). Aortic valve surgery includes valvuloplasty, valve replacement, and root replacement (Bentall procedure). RESULTS There were 15 cases with 19 operations, 8 cases in the Arteritis Group received 8 operations while 7 cases in the BD Group received 11 operations, including 4 redo operations. Preoperative patients' aortic valve regurgitation degree, diameter of ascending aorta and left ventricular ejection fraction were similar between the two groups. The type of aortic valve surgery also was no different. Cardiopulmonary bypass time of the BD Group seemed longer than the Arteritis Group but no different, the same as clamp time. Mechanical ventilation time is longer in the BD Group. The morbidity and mortality were similar, but the BD Group had significantly higher incidence of redo operations because of postoperative paravalvular leak or valve insufficiency (Arteritis Group versus BD Group, 0% versus 57.1%, P = .026). CONCLUSIONS Clinical diagnosis and management of aortic valve patients with arteritis require comprehensive considerations. For aortitis patients with aortic valve surgery, special surgical techniques can be used to reduce the risk of prosthetic valve detachment.