Calf Aortic Valve Heterograft Replacement for Aortic Valvular Disease

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery and the Department of Cardiology, Deborah Hospital, Browns Mills, New Jersey 08015

The calf aortic valve heterograft was used to replace the damaged aortic valves in 15 patients.There were two deaths which occurred in the immediate postoperative period. The first seven of the 13 surviving patients were studied six months postoperatively. Results showed that the heterograft valves were working effectively. There was no systolic pressure gradient acrossthe new valve. Clinical competence of the valves has been confirmed by retrograde aortograms. Heart size has decreased in all cases. All the patients have shown marked improvement. It is obviously too short a time to draw any definite conclusions regarding the eventual fate of the implanted heterograft. However, our early clinical and laboratory results have shown that the calfaortic valve heterograft placed in the subcoronary position functions effectively and is well tolerated by the human host. This is most encouraging and it is felt that in view of these results further clinical application of this technique is warranted.