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Figure 1 Freedom from all valve-related complications for tissue and mechanical prostheses (from Veterans Affairs trial [3], reprinted with permission from the American College of Cardiology Foundation). Morbidity was composed predominantly of late structural failure among patients with a bioprosthesis and cumulative occurrence of major hemorrhage among patients with a mechanical prosthesis. Freedom from all valve-related complications for tissue and mechanical prostheses was indistinguishable at 12 years AVR = aortic valve replacement; MVR = mitral valve replacement.
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