Results of Heart Valve Surgery

Abstract

Before surgery, the patient has to be given accurate information about the nature of his or her disease, expected natural history of the disease without operation, and the estimated risk of surgical procedure. Th e average in-hospital mortality rate, drawn from large patient cohorts [1–9] (Table 10.1), is approximately 3% for isolated aortic valve replacement, 6% for isolated mitral valve replacement, and 1–2% for mitral valve repair. Th e published mortality rate for concomitant aortic and mitral valve replacement is 9%, and 6% for aortic valve replacement with concomitant mitral valve repair. The mortality rate for tricuspid valve surgery(usually for mitral-tricuspid valve disease) is approximately 10%. Aortic valve replacement with concomitant coronary bypass grafting has the expected mortality rate of approximately 6%, whereas the mortality rate for mitral valve replacement combined with coronary bypass grafting ranges between 10 and 12%. The mortality rate for mitral valve repair with concomitant coronary bypass grafting is about 6–8%.