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CLINICAL RESEARCH: VALVULAR HEART DISEASE

Aortic Valve Replacement for Low-Flow/Low-Gradient Aortic Stenosis

Operative Risk Stratification and Long-Term Outcome: A European Multicenter Study

Franck Levy, MD^_*, Marcel Laurent, MD, Jean Luc Monin, MD, Jean Michel Maillet, MD, Agnès Pasquet, MD^||, Thierry Le Tourneau, MD^¶, Hélène Petit-Eisenmann, MD^#, Mauro Gori, MD^_**, Yannick Jobic, MD, Fabrice Bauer, MD, Christophe Chauvel, MD, Alain Leguerrier, MD, PhD and Christophe Tribouilloy, MD, PhD, FACC^_*,_*

^_* Department of Cardiology, INSERM, ERI-12, University Hospital, Amiens, France
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital, Rennes, France
Department of Cardiology, Henri Mondor Hospital, Créteil, France
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Centre Cardiologique du Nord, Saint Denis, France
^|| Department of Cardiology, Clinique Universitaire St. Luc, Brussels, Belgium
^¶ Department of Cardiology, University Hospital, Lille, France
^# Department of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital, Strasbourg, France
^_** Department of Cardiology, Ospedali Riuniti, Bergamo, Italy
Department of Cardiology, University Hospital, Brest, France
Department of Cardiology, University Hospital, Rouen, France
Department of Cardiology, Clinique Saint-Augustin, Bordeaux, France.

Manuscript received June 21, 2007; revised manuscript received October 24, 2007, accepted October 29, 2007.

^_* Reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Christophe Tribouilloy, University Hospital, Av. Laennec, 80054 Amiens Cedex 1, France. (Email: tribouilloy.christophe{at}chu-amiens.fr).

Objectives: We evaluated a large multicenter series of patients operated on for low-flow/low-gradient aortic stenosis (LF/LGAS) to stratify the operative risk, assess whether perioperative mortality has decreased over recent years, and analyze the post-operative outcome.

Background: Although LF/LGAS is classically associated with a high operative risk, few data are available concerning the results of surgery in this setting.

Methods: A total of 217 consecutive patients (168 men, 77%) with severe aortic stenosis (area <1 cm²), low ejection fraction (EF) (35%), and low mean gradient (MG) (30 mm Hg) who underwent aortic valve replacement (AVR) between 1990 and 2005 were included.

Results: Perioperative mortality was 16% and decreased dramatically from 20% in the 1990 to 1999 period to 10% in the 2000 to 2005 period. Higher European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation score (EuroSCORE), very low MG and EF, New York Heart Association functional class III or IV, history of congestive heart failure, and multivessel coronary artery disease (MVD) were associated with perioperative mortality. On multivariate analysis, very low pre-operative MG and MVD were predictors of excess perioperative mortality. In the subgroup of patients with dobutamine stress echocardiography, the absence of contractile reserve was a strong predictor of perioperative mortality. Overall 5-year survival rate was 49 ± 4%. Lower MG, higher EuroSCORE, prior atrial fibrillation, and MVD were identified as independent predictors of overall long-term mortality.

Conclusions: In view of the very poor prognosis of unoperated patients, the current operative risk, and the long-term outcome after surgery, AVR is the treatment of choice in the majority of cases of LF/LGAS.

Abbreviations and Acronyms   AS = aortic stenosis   AVR = aortic valve replacement   CAD = coronary artery disease   DSE = dobutamine stress echocardiography   EF = ejection fraction   EuroSCORE = European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation   HR = hazard ratio   LF/LGAS = low-flow/low-gradient aortic stenosis   LVEF = left ventricular ejection fraction   MG = mean gradient   MVD = multivessel coronary artery disease   NYHA = New York Heart Association   OR = odds ratio

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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2008 51: A27-A28. [Full Text] [PDF]