• Joseph S Coselli, Michael S Hughes, Susan Y Green, Matt D Price, Samantha Zarda, Kim I de la Cruz, Ourania Preventza, and Scott A LeMaire.
• Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine and Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas.
• Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2014 Apr 1; 97 (4): 1267-73; discussion 1273-4.

BackgroundValve-sparing aortic root replacement (VSARR) is an alternative to traditional composite valve graft (CVG) root replacement. We examined early and midterm outcomes after VSARR.MethodsA combined retrospective/prospective study was performed in 83 patients who underwent VSARR (16%) among 515 patients who underwent aortic root replacement during a nearly 12-year period. Thirty-six patients (43%) had a connective tissue disorder, 3 patients (4%) had acute aortic dissection, and 40 (48%) patients had at least moderate aortic regurgitation (AR). Twenty-eight patients (34%) had left ventricular hypertrophy or dilatation. The reimplantation VSARR technique was used in 82 patients (99%), and the Florida sleeve technique was used in 1 patient. Thirty-two patients (39%) underwent concomitant aortic arch replacement. For early survivors, the median duration of follow-up was 3.5 years (range, 5 days-12.2 years).ResultsOne patient had severe AR after VSARR that necessitated intraoperative conversion to a mechanical CVG. The 1 operative death and 1 stroke occurred in a patient with acute dissection. Actuarial survival was 96.4%±2.0% at 2 years and 86.9%±5.6% at 8 years. Six patients (7%) had late valve-related complications: 1 died of endocarditis, 4 underwent reoperation for severe AR and received replacement valves, and 1 had severe AR and is being monitored. Freedom from repair failure (reoperation, endocarditis, or severe AR) was 94.8%±2.6% at 2 years and 87.3%±5.7% at 8 years.ConclusionsValve-sparing aortic root replacement can have excellent early and respectable midterm outcomes, even when combined with arch repair. Further follow-up remains necessary to evaluate the long-term durability of VSARR.Copyright © 2014 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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