[Biennial experience with aortic valve homografts prepared and preserved in our bank and implanted on the left ventricular outflow tract in adult patients]

Abstract

A homograft bank was established in 1986 at the Institute of Cardiac Surgery of the Second University of Naples. Since then 163 aortic and pulmonary homografts have been collected, and mostly used for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction (69 at our Institution and 14 at other Italian Centers). In March 1991 free aortic homografts were first implanted in the left ventricular outflow tract in adult patients with aortic valve and/or root disease, for a total of 15 implantations with a follow-up ranging between 3 and 19 months (mean 10 months). According to the literature and our data, operative mortality for such procedure is not higher than for ordinary aortic valve replacement. With regard to mid-term failure rate and complications, homografts are to be preferred as they don't require anticoagulation. Moreover the best indication to free homograft implantation is active aortic valve endocarditis, especially when annular abscesses are present. Reinfection rate is lesser in these patients compared to those with mechanical or bioprosthetic valves because homografts have no prosthetic material, allow exclusion of abscessual cavities from blood flow and do not require the fixation of a rigid prosthetic sewing ring in an infected, friable annulus. Finally short and mid-term haemodynamic evaluations of such patients are excellent for all the aforementioned reasons as well as for the homograft non obstruction rate.