Clinical and Hemodynamic 19-mm Carpentier-Edwards Aortic Valve

The clinical and hemodynamic performance of the 19-mm Carpentier-Edwards supraannular aortic valve is largely unknown compared with that of the larger valves. Over 4 years we implanted the 19-mm CarpentierEdwards supraannular aortic valve into 21 patients (20 female) with a mean age of 75 & 1.2 years (range, 59 to 86 years) and a mean body surface area of 1.6 f. 0.03 m2 (range, 1.3 to 1.7 m2). There were four deaths, one operative and three late noncardiac deaths. Follow-up of the 17 survivors for a mean of 20 f. 3.1 months (range, 2 to 42 months) demonstrated symptomatic improvement in all 17 (all are now in New York Heart Association functional class I or 11). There were no valve-related complications and no patient required long-term anticoagulation. Doppler echocardiographic studies were used to assess the in vivo hemodynamic profile of the valve.