The Annals of thoracic surgery
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Reoperative aortic valve replacement (re-AVR) after previous AVR is a complex procedure involving redo sternotomy and removal of a previous prosthesis. With increasing use of valve-in-valve transcatheter aortic valve replacement for failed aortic bioprostheses, an evaluation of contemporary outcomes of re-AVR in patients with bioprostheses is warranted. ⋯ Re-AVR is now performed with an acceptable operative mortality, which is higher than primary AVR. The overall incidence of stroke, vascular complication, and postoperative aortic insufficiency was low although higher than primary AVR. These results may serve as a benchmark for future analysis of valve-in-valve transcatheter aortic valve replacement and may have an effect on future choice of transcatheter aortic valve replacement vs re-AVR.