F. Santini et al., APPLICATION OF FRESH AND CRYOPRESERVED HOMOGRAFTS HARVESTED FROM TRANSPLANT PATIENTS FOR CORRECTION OF COMPLEX CONGENITAL HEART-DISEASE, Journal of cardiac surgery, 8(4), 1993, pp. 453-458
In recent years, the use of homograft tissue in cardiac surgery has in
creased so that supply is limited. Since October 1990, aortic and/or p
ulmonary valves were collected from 17 transplant recipients at the De
partment of Cardiovascular Surgery of the University of Padova Medical
School (11 male, 6 female, mean age 43.4 years, range 11 months to 61
years). The indications for transplant were dilated cardiomyopathy in
7, and end-stage ischemic heart disease in the remaining 10 patients.
Twelve such valves have been subsequently reimplanted either as fresh
or as cryopreserved valved homografts in the repair of different form
s of congenital heart disease, by means of different tailoring techniq
ues (7 male, 5 female; mean age 4.8 years [range 1 day to 18 years]; t
ransposition of the great arteries = 5 cases; tetralogy of Fallot = 3
cases; hypoplastic left heart syndrome = 2 cases; double outlet right
ventricle = 1 case; truncus arteriosus = 1 case). Overall, early morta
lity was 25%. None of these deaths could be related to the use of homo
grafts. There have been no instances of valve related complications am
ong nine patients surviving surgery at a mean follow-up of 11 months.
All patients having heart explanted should be regarded as potential so
urces for aortic and pulmonary homografts.