Concentric wear of the Delrin disc in a Bjork-Shiley heart valve prosthesis: report of two cases.

We report herein the cases of two patients who received replacement of aortic Bjork-Shiley Delrin (BSD) valves that had been implanted for over 20 years following the development of aortic regurgitation (AR) resulting from wear of a Delrin disc. Case 1 was a 61-year-old woman in whom echocardiography revealed marked left ventricular dilatation and moderate AR 23 years after an aortic valve replacement (AVR) with a 21-mm BSD valve. Case 2 was a 51-year-old woman in whom echocardiography revealed marked dilation of the right atrium and moderate AR 23 years and 8 months after an AVR with a 21-mm BSD valve, as well as a mitral valve replacement with a 3M Starr-Edwards (SE) ball valve and tricuspid annuloplasty. In both patients, the BSD valves were replaced with other mechanical valves at reoperation. Examination of the explanted BSD valves showed that the Delrin discs contained increases in the radial gaps and strut indentation grooves on the inflow and outflow surfaces. The type and magnitude of the wear on the Delrin discs in these valves were consistent with data reported in the literature for this valve design after similar implant duration.