St. Jude Medical bileaflet valve was implanted in 42 patients from September, 1988, to July, 1993(mitral valve replacement in 25, aortic valve replacement in 11, multiple valve replacement in 6). Concomitant procedures were performed in 5
patients(11.9%). The early mortality was 4.8%(2 patients)and the late mortality was 9.5%(4 patients). The valve-related causes of late mortality were prosthetic valve endocarditis(three), unknown(one). There was no instance of structural failure.
Follow
up was 100% complete, with 179.8 patient-years and a mean follow up of 54 months(from 1.5 to 84 months). The overall actuarial survival rates was 90±4.7% at 5 years. At 5 years, the acturarial freedom from valve failure was 90±4.7%, 89.7±4.8%
from
thromboemboliswm and 92.3±4.2% from bacterial endocarditis, respectively.
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