THE CARPENTIER-EDWARDS PERICARDIAL AORTIC-VALVE - 10-YEAR RESULTS

To evaluate the function of the Carpentier-Edwards pericardial valve i n the aortic position, we analyzed the results of 310 aortic valve rep lacements performed between 1982 and 1985, Mean age was 64.2 +/- 10.8 years (range 22 to 95 years); 190 patients (61.3%) were male patients, There were 18 hospital deaths (5.8%), and none were valve related. Fo llow-up of the 292 survivors was 100% complete at a mean of 7.8 +/- 2. 9 years; 2290 patient-years of follow-up were available for analysis, There were 133 late deaths (45.5%), Actuarial survivals at 5 and 10 ye ars were 82.5% and 45.9%, respectively, The 10-year actuarial freedom from events was 88.7% +/- 2.1% for thromboembolism, 90.9% +/- 1.8% for hemorrhage, 94.3% +/- 1.6% for endocarditis, and 91.2% +/- 2.6% for s tructural deterioration, The 153 hospital survivors 65 years of age or older had an extremely low incidence of structural valve deterioratio n, with only four explants and 95.5% actuarial freedom from explantati on at 10 years, and a linearized rate of 0.3 +/- 0.2 per patient-year compared with 88.6% and 0.7 +/- 0.2 for patients younger than 65 years of age, Twelve valves were explanted for structural deterioration, Of these, 11 (93%) had leaflet calcification causing stenosis and one ha d a wear-related leaflet tear, The Carpentier-Edwards pericardial valv e has a low incidence of valve-related complications, The freedom from structural valve deterioration is low at 10 years, particularly in pa tients 65 years of age and older.