[Late results of isolated aortic valve replacement by Björk-Shiley prosthesis. Apropos of 596 cases].

Between 1970 and 1985, 596 patients underwent isolated aortic valve replacement with a Björk-Shiley prosthesis: 448 men and 148 women, average age 52 +/- 13 years (range 10-78 years). The valve lesion was aortic stenosis in 158 cases, aortic regurgitation in 218 cases and mixed valve disease in 220 cases. Fifty-four per cent of patients had invalidating cardiac failure (Stage III of the NYHA Classification). Thirteen per cent of patients had an associated non valvular surgical procedure. The hospital mortality was 5.7% and 77% of the early deaths were of cardiac origin. Results were analysed after an average follow-up period of 90 +/- 15 months, a total of 3817 patient-years. The late mortality was 94 (16.7%). Actuarial survival was 87 +/- 1% at 5 years and 79 +/- 2% at 10 years. A prognostic score was established from a multifactorial analysis: Cox = 0.44 (NYHA Stage 1, 2, 3, 4) + 5.29 C/T (absolute value) + 1.15 associated procedure (0.1) + 0.65 (RBBB) (0.1). In the long-term, 84.8% of survivors were asymptomatic (NYHA Stages I and II). The incidence of thrombo-embolism was 0.5/100 patient-years. At 10 years, 95% of patients had no thromboembolic complication. The incidence of ineffective endocarditis was 0.3/100 patient-years and that of complications of anticoagulant therapy was 0.4/100 patient-years. The incidence of valve dehiscence was 0.1/100 patient-years and the reoperation rate was 0.4/100 patient-years but there were no cases of valve dysfunction. The global complication rate in this series was 1.35/100 patient-years. These results confirm the good results of aortic valve replacement with a mechanical prosthesis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)