• Mijiti Wuliya, Ghassan Sleilaty, Isabelle Di Centa, Nizar Khelil, Alain Berrebi, Daniel Czitrom, Leila Mankoubi, Milena Noghin, Marie Christine Malergue, Gilles Chatellier, Mathieu Debauchez, and Emmanuel Lansac.
• Department of Cardiac Pathology, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France.
• Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2015 Mar 1;47(3):482-90; discussion 490.

ObjectivesAortic annuloplasty and preservation of root dynamics have been described as factors for durability of aortic valve repair. The objective of this study is to document the first clinical analysis of root dynamics after a standardized valve-sparing procedure for root aneurysms associating a calibrated expansible external aortic ring annuloplasty with a physiological remodelling of the aortic root (CAVIAAR technique: Conservative Aortic Valve surgery for aortic Insufficiency and Aneurysm of the Aortic Root).MethodsOf the 600 patients operated on with the CAVIAAR technique, 60 consecutive patients from a single team underwent double independent reading of the echocardiographic analysis performed in the operative period and yearly after discharge until a maximum of 5-year follow-up. Forty-four patients had preoperative aortic insufficiency (AI) ≥grade 2 (73.3%) and 29 patients (48%) had bicuspid valves.ResultsThe expansible aortic ring (median size 27 (25-27) mm) significantly reduced the aortic annular base diameter (from 28 (25-29) mm to 23 (21-24) mm) (P < 0.001) without a significant median transvalvular gradient increase (P = 0.545). Cusp repair was performed in 55 patients (91.7%). Operative mortality was 1.7% (1). During the median 19-month (95% confidential interval [11-26]) follow-up, annular diameter and cusp effective height remained stable. There were no valve-related reoperations. One patient died at 6 months postoperatively from congestive heart failure. Freedom from AI ≥grade 2 was 100% at 1-year follow-up and 96.8% ± 3.2% at 3-year follow-up. Systolic root expansibility of the four echocardiographic diameters (aortic annular base, sinuses of Valsalva level, sino tubular junction and tubular aorta) was maintained, throughout the follow-up period with the aortic annular base expansibility coefficient having consistently higher values than the three other levels.ConclusionsThe expansible aortic ring achieved a complete calibrated external annuloplasty and maintained dynamics of the aortic root at mid-term follow-up. Whether this could be a factor for durability of aortic valve repair is currently under evaluation through the CAVIAAR study 10-year follow-up.© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

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