[Aortic valve replacement in the elderly].

We report a retrospective study about 60 patients operated on for aortic valve replacement between 1981 and 2000. All patients were aged more than 65 years. 56.6% of patients were in the class III or IV of the NYHA. The type of the valvular substitute was a mechanical prostheses in 58.3% of cases and a biological prostheses in 41.7%. A mitral geste was associated in 6 cases and a myocardial revascularisatin in 5 cases. The early mortality rate was 15% and the late mortality was 23%. The high mortality is meanly related to the associate lesions (coronaropathy) and the prognosis is a better with the improvement of surgical technics and perioperative management.