Aortopathy in Bicuspid Aortic Valve Stenosis with Fusion of Right-Left versus Right-Non-Coronary Cusps: Are These Different Diseases?

BACKGROUND

The study aim was to prospectively analyze the impact of cusp fusion pattern on aortopathy severity in patients undergoing surgery for bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) stenosis.

METHODS

A total of 137 consecutive patients with BAV stenosis (93 males, 44 females; mean age 61 ± 9 years) underwent aortic valve replacement with or without concomitant aortic surgery between January 2012 and March 2015. All patients underwent preoperative cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) in order to evaluate morphological/functional parameters of the aortic root. Fusion of the right-left coronary cusps was identified in 99 patients (72%) (R/L group), while the remaining 38 patients (28%) had right-noncoronary cusp fusion (R/N group). cMRI data were used to guide sampling of the proximal aorta during surgery. The expression/severity of aortopathy was quantified by means of proximal aortic phenotype, indexed aortic diameter, and a histological sum-score.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences in proximal aortic diameter between the R/L and R/N groups. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of distinct aortic phenotypes between the study subgroups. The histological sumscore was comparable between the R/L and R/N groups (2.9 ± 1.5 versus 2.5 ± 1.1, p = 0.2). The angle LV/aorta was significantly larger in the R/L group than in the R/N group (52.1 ± 10.6° versus 45.1 ± 8.5°, p = 0.001). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated the angle LV/aorta and the angle jet/aorta to be predictive of a mid-ascending phenotype. The cusp fusion pattern had no significant impact on the occurrence of aortic phenotype.

CONCLUSIONS

The study results demonstrated that cusp fusion morphotype has no significant impact on the expression and severity of bicuspid aortopathy in patients undergoing surgery for BAV stenosis.