[Reoperations in patients with heart valve prosthesis].

The results of operations performed for the second time on 193 patients with heart valve prostheses are analysed. Prosthesis endocarditis and thrombosis of the prosthesis are the most severe complications of valve replacement. An effective scheme for the performance of repeated operations in these patients is suggested, which was developed at the Bakulev Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery, USSR AMS.

[Reoperations in patients with EMIKS and LIKS prostheses].

The frequency, terms, techniques, and the results of reoperations on patients with EMIKS and LIKS prostheses are analysed. In the period between June, 1983 and December, 1989, 994 EMIKS prostheses and 210 LIKS prostheses were implanted in 1,015 patients. In this period 22 reoperations were performed which accounted for 0.

[Reoperations after insertion of heart valve prosthesis].

The authors analysed 167 repeated operations after heart valve prosthetics, which were conducted from 1978 to 1988. The operations were undertaken for the second time mainly in a severe contingent of patients. The reasons for the repeated operations were specific complications according to which 2 groups of patients were set apart: with dysfunction of the prosthesis of noninfectious origin and with prosthetic endocarditis.

[Repeat surgery occasioned by the incompetence of the primary tissue in biological prostheses].

The authors analyse the causes of repeated operations on 42 among a group of 157 patients with implanted biological cardiac valve prostheses and a postoperative follow-up period of 3.5 to 13 years. The main cause of dysfunction of biological prostheses is calcification which develops mostly in xenopericardial valves irrespective of their localization.

[Surgical treatment of endocarditis following heart valve prosthesis].

Experience of many years in surgical treatment of prosthetic valve endocarditis (RVE) is analyzed. Patients whose condition was serious were operated on for a second time: 91.6% had preoperative functional class IV, in half of them circulatory disorders were of stage IIB--III; 62.

[Late results of aortic valve prosthesis (a clinico-hemodynamic analysis)].

Long-term results of aortic-valve ball prosthesis implantation in 184 patients, followed up for about 15 years, are presented. The performance of Soviet-made ball prosthesis in the aortic position has been shown to be fairly satisfactory for a long time. Prostheses of this design are also highly wear-resistant and show satisfactory hydrodynamic properties.