Surgical implantation of a mechanical valve prosthesis due to aortic stenosis in a patient after liver transplantation: Case report

Abstract

The development of increasingly accurate immunosuppression and surgical techniques has contributed to transplantology to such an extent that patients who have undergone abdominal organ transplantations account for an increasing group in whom other diseases, including those of the cardiovascular system, have to be treated, also surgically. A 61-year-old male patient after liver transplantation was admitted to the Institute of Cardiology to undergo surgical treatment of aortic stenosis. An SJM 23-mm mechanical prosthesis was implanted into the aortic ostium. The postoperative period was without complications. On postoperative day 6, the patient was transferred to the Department of Transplantation Medicine and Nephrology to be treated further. Cardiosurgery procedures in liver transplant recipients involve a higher risk, which results from hemorrhagic complications requiring massive blood and blood components transfusions and repeated thoracotomy. Because of expected complications, the choice of prosthesis is difficult and should be made together by a cardiac surgeon and the patient.