The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 57, 230-232, Copyright © 1994 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Replacement of a prosthetic valve after the Bentall procedure
C Bassano, G Rabitti and LC D'Alessandro
Division of Cardiac Surgery, S. Camillo Hospital, Rome, Italy.
Patients undergoing a composite graft replacement of the aortic root with
reimplantation of the coronary ostia (Bentall procedure) are at risk for
late prosthetic heart valve dysfunction: approximately 10% of the patients
are expected to experience this complication at 10 years. Therefore,
replacement of the prosthetic valve is indicated. This procedure involves
technical problems related to the manipulation and the reconstruction of
the composite graft without distortion of the coronary arteries. We
describe a simple surgical approach to treat these particular patients.