ST-JUDE MEDICAL PROSTHESIS IN CHILDREN

From December 1980 through April 1992, 20 children 2 to 18 years of ag e underwent valve replacement with the St. Jude Medical prosthesis. Ni ne children underwent aortic valve replacement, eight underwent mitral valve replacement, and the three children with corrected transpositio n underwent left-sided tricuspid valve replacement. Of the 20 patients , 17 underwent 23 previous procedures. All but Ave patients received a dequate adult-sized prostheses. There was one hospital death (5 %). Al l hospital survivors received maintenance doses of sodium warfarin. Fo llow-up was 100% complete with a total of 106 patient-years. There wer e no late deaths and no thromboembolic or anticoagulant-related bleedi ng. None of the patients had prosthetic valve endocarditis or a peripr osthetic leak. Reoperation was not required in any patient. The great majority of the children (16 of 19) were in New York Heart Association functional class I, two were in class II, and one with complex congen ital heart disease was in class m at the time this article was written . This study illustrates the excellent results of cardiac valve replac ement with the St. Jude Medical prosthesis in children and confirms th e safety of sodium warfarin in this age group.