Objective: Assessment of short and long term outcomes following Medtronic Freestyle bioprosthesis implantation.
Methods: from 1997 to 2014 390 consecutive patients underwent aortic valve replacement with Medtronic Freestyle Aortic Root Bioprosthesis.
Results: mean age was 70 ±9.4 years and 164 (42%) of the patients were female. Fifteen (3.8%) patients were in critical preoperative state, 18 (4.6%) had ejection fraction≤35%, 46(11.8%) patients had repeat operation and 60 (15.5%) had ascending aortic aneurysm.
The subcoronary technique and root replacement were employed in 298 (76%) and 92 (24%) patients, respectively. Eighty six percent of the patients received a bioprosthesis of ≥ 23 mm size.
The overall early mortality was 5.2%. Mortality for non critical cases was 3.1%. There was no difference in early mortality between the subcoronary and root replacement groups.
Follow up between 1 month to 17 years (mean=4 years) was available in 96% of patients. Overall 5 and 10 years Kaplan-Meier survival were 84% and 55%, respectively.
Eight patients underwent aortic prosthesis explantation between 2 and 8 years after initial operation due to structural valve deterioration or prosthetic valve endocarditis with no perioperative mortality.
Conclusions: In view of these favorable long term results, especially in the current era of transcatheter aortic valve implantation, the use of the Freestyle prosthesis in patients younger than 65 years should be strongly considered.
