[Aortic annulus repair with xenogeneic pericardial flap after extensive debridement in active prosthetic valve endocarditis associated with an aortic annular abscess].

Prosthetic aortic valve endocarditis(PVE) is one of the devastating diseases and some cases present with extensive annular destruction requiring complex surgical repair. We report 2 cases of PVE with more than one-half of aortic annular destruction after complete debridement of the infected tissue. In these patients we successfully performed mechanical valve implantation following annular repair using a square piece of xenogeneic pericardium that was soaked in highly concentrated vancomycin solution. To increase rigidity of an annulus, a square piece of xenogeneic pericardium was interposed into abscess cavity with some single interrupted sutures. Sutures were placed along the abscess cavity and tied to the fragile tissue carefully. Both patients were discharged from hospital and have been doing well without any signs of recurrent endocarditis at a year postoperatively. This procedure might enable us to avoid patch closure of the abscess cavity in some severe PVE patients.