• Pichoy Danial, Asma Neily, Margaux Pontailler, Régis Gaudin, Diala Khraiche, Mary Osborne-Pellegrin, Pascal Vouhe, and Olivier Raisky.
• Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Necker Sick Children's Hospital and Paris University, Paris, France; Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Institute of Cardiology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Sorbonne University, Paris, France.
• J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2022 Mar 1; 163 (3): 1180-1191.e6.

ObjectiveDifficult to repair aortic valve lesions, requiring the use of a valve substitute, remain controversial in the face of the Ross procedure, despite undeniable technical advances. This study was undertaken to compare midterm outcomes of children treated using the Ross procedure or aortic valvuloplasty for complex aortic valve lesions.MethodsBetween January 2006 and December 2017, 126 patients aged younger than 18 years were treated for complex aortic stenosis and/or aortic insufficiency and were included in this retrospective study. Only aortic valve lesions requiring repair with an autologous or heterologous pericardial patch were considered complex lesions. Propensity score framework analyses were used to compare outcomes of the Ross and aortic valvuloplasty groups while controlling for confounders.ResultsAmong the 126 patients with complex aortic valve lesions, propensity score matching selected 34 unique pairs of patients with similar characteristics. Survival (aortic valvuloplasty, 94.1%; Ross, 91%; P = .89), freedom from overall reintervention (aortic valvuloplasty, 50.1%; Ross, 69%; P = .32), and freedom from infective endocarditis at 8 years (aortic valvuloplasty, 100%; Ross, 85.9%; P = .21) were similar. However, freedom from reintervention in the left ventricular outflow tract at 8 years was lower after aortic valvuloplasty than after the Ross procedure (50.1% vs 100%, respectively; P = .001).ConclusionsAortic valvuloplasty and the Ross procedure yielded similar 8-year outcomes regarding death, reoperation, and infective endocarditis although aortic valvuloplasty tended to be associated with fewer cases of infective endocarditis. Aortic valvuloplasty using a pericardial patch can be chosen as a first-line strategy for treating complex aortic valve lesions and might offer the possibility of a later Ross procedure.Copyright © 2021 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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