Summary
Between July 1979 and June 1982 we implanted aortic Medtronic-Hall prostheses in 40 patients. Ages ranged between 25 and 75, with a mean of 56 years. There were 38 cases of elective surgery (group I ) and 2 acute aortic dissections (group II). All patients received anticoagulant medication.
Follow-up ranged between 8 and 39 months with a mean of 22.5 months. Excluding operative mortality (7.5%) the 2-year actuarial survival rate is 97.2 %. No death was related to the valve or its dysfunction.
The overall thromboembolic rate is 0.78 per 100 patient years. No thromboembolic episode occurred in group I. No hemolysis was encountered and most patients experienced marked postoperative improvement.
We consider that aortic Medtronic-Hall valves are valuable but further studies are necessary to confirm the results we obtained.
