Longest Survival after Aortic Valve Replacement with Bioprosthesis: A 38 Year Follow-Up

Abstract

Aortic valve replacement is the second most common cause of cardiac surgery. Over the last four decades, bioprosthesis has been widely used in aortic valve replacement. Though bioprosthetic valves are used to avoid long term anticoagulant therapy in patients post-surgery, the valves are at risk of structural deterioration, requiring redo surgery. Various studies have reported both mortality and durability only for a single decade of follow-up of aortic valve replacement. Additional long term follow-up results are required especially in patients who had aortic valve replacement at a younger age. Recent advancements in aortic valve replacement surgery are sutureless aortic valve replacement through percutaneous transcatheter heart valve technology. Since this technique also uses bioprosthesis, population demographic that can benefit from sutureless aortic valve replacement is unclear. Here, we report a patient who has been consistently documented follow-up for thirty-eight years after a successful aortic valve replacement with a bioprosthesis