Ten-year results of aortic valve replacement with first-generation Mitroflow bioprosthesis: is early degeneration a structural or a technical issue?

Objectives: Concerns have been raised about the durability of the first-generation Mitroflow aortic bioprosthesis (model 12 A-LX) due to the lack of anticalcification treatment. This study reflects a 10-year experience with this prosthesis for aortic valve replacement.

Methods: From June 2003 to May 2012, the Mitroflow prosthesis was used for aortic valve replacement in 510 patients, of whom only 467 with complete clinical follow-up were included for analysis.

Low target-INR anticoagulation is safe in selected aortic valve patients with the Medtronic Open Pivot mechanical prosthesis: long-term results of a propensity-matched comparison with standard anticoagulation.

Objectives: To investigate the long-term results of a low international normalized ratio (INR)-anticoagulation program in selected patients after aortic valve replacement (AVR) with the Medtronic Open Pivot mechanical heart valve (OPMHV).

Methods: From January 1993 to December 2012, 909 OPMHV valves were used for single AVR. Patients with preserved sinus rhythm and left ventricular function (Low-INR, n  = 552), were managed to an INR of 1.

Minimally Invasive Repair of Mitral Valve Prolapse and Concomitant Atrial Fibrillation Ablation in a Heart Transplant.

Significant mitral valve disease with atrial fibrillation after heart transplantation is unusual. We report the diagnosis and minimally invasive surgical treatment 17 years after transplantation, in which mitral valve repair together with left atrial ablation was performed, resulting in a satisfying clinical and echocardiographic improvement.

Twenty-year single-center experience with the medtronic open pivot mechanical heart valve.

Background: Since May 1992 the Medtronic Open Pivot mechanical heart valve has been implanted routinely at the authors' institution. The study aim was to analyze, retrospectively, the 20-year clinical results of the valve.

Methods: Between May 1992 and December 2011 a total of 1,520 valves was inserted into 1,382 consecutive patients (1,012 aortic, 473 mitral, 26 tricuspid, 9 pulmonary).

Reappraisal of a single-centre policy on the contemporary surgical management of active infective endocarditis.

Objectives: We studied a contemporary cohort of adult patients treated surgically for infective endocarditis (IE) in order to evaluate the surgical approach and predictors of outcomes, in relation to the intercurrent adaptation of the 2006 ACC/AHA guidelines.

Methods: One hundred and eighty-six consecutive patients operated on for active IE from August 1999 to September 2012 were reviewed retrospectively. Clinical presentation, surgical management and outcomes in the two study periods before and after January 2007 were compared (Period 1: n = 95 and Period 2: n = 91).