[Heart valve replacement with the Ionescu-Shiley bovine pericardial xenograft. Hemodynamic evaluation and early clinical follow-up of 170 patients].

The Ionescu-Shiley bovine pericardial xenograft (ISPX) has been widely accepted clinically because of its superior hemodynamic characteristics and low incidence of thrombogenicity. After confirmation by our own experiment of its superior valve performance, we have adopted in clinical application of this valve since August of 1979, and implanted 189 of this valve in 170 patients up to November of 1981. The overall mortality rate including of hospital and follow up death was 14.1%. The pressure gradient and calculated orifice area of ISPX were compared to those of Hancock xenograft (HX), and the valve characteristics of ISPXs was found to be better than those of HX. The cardiac function following implantation of this valve apparently showed improvement. No incidence of thromboembolic episode or malfunction was observed, however, prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) was encountered in four patients and two died. This incidence of PVE in ISPXs was not significantly higher in comparison to that in other type of prosthetic valve. However the low incidence of thromboembolic episode as well as acceptable valve performance were confirmed by our study, the durability and susceptibility to PVE has to be carefully observed in the longer follow up.