CARDIAC FUNCTION FOLLOWING PROSTHETIC AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT

1. 1. Hemodynamic and clinical studies have been performed in 19 patients judged as having had excellent clinical results from aortic prosthetic valve replacement surgery. 2. 2. Following aortic valve replacement, essentially normal cardiac function was present in 74 per cent of the 19 patients. Cardiac function was more normal after aortic valve replacement than after mitral valve replacement. 3. 3. Three patients who had persisting moderate impairment of cardiac function had experienced myocardial infarction either before operation or immediately after surgery. 4. 4. Electrocardiographic evidence of myocardial infarction appeared in the immediate postoperative period in 6 of the 19 patients. The data indicate that infarction resulted from surgery in the absence of pre-existing coronary disease in 5 patients. 5. 5. Reversal of electrocardiographic signs of left ventricular hypertrophy occurred in 42 per cent of patients. Regression of hypertrophy patterns was most commonly observed in patients with pure aortic stenosis, while little change occurred in the ECG's of patients with pure aortic insufficiency. Persistence of hypertrophy patterns was not associated with impaired cardiac function. 6. 6. Decrease in heart size in the roentgenogram occurred in 18 of 19 patients. The greatest decrease in size occurred in those with heart failure prior to surgery. © 1969.