The early to mid-term outcomes of post-EC-TCPC patients managed with individualized pharmacotherapy were excellent, with low mortality and morbidity rates; however, development of late-occurring morbidities specific to Fontan physiology, including exercise intolerance and liver disease, must be carefully monitored during the long-term follow-up.
The staged strategy used for all Fontan candidates provides excellent clinical results. The main risk factor for death, takedown, or out of indication for completion of TCPC was elevated pulmonary arterial pressure. Appropriate surgical interventions such as atrioventricular valvuloplasty and total anomalous pulmonary venous connection repair, before and/or on BDG for the control of pulmonary circulation are of great importance to prevent elevation of pulmonary arterial pressure.
College of Cardiology guidelines revised in 2014 recommend BP for the patients aged >70 years, mechanical prosthesis (MP) for the patients aged <60 years, and either a BP or MP for the patients aged 60-70 years. 7 Due to the lack, however, of longterm results for the use of BP in AVR 8 and the small number of comparative studies 9 of different age groups in Japan, it remains debatable as to which type of prosthesis, BP or MP, is better for AVR in Japanese patients in their 60 s.The purpose of this study was to analyze our 30-year clinical experience with bileaflet MP and Carpentier-Edwards Perimount (CEP) BP for AVR in different age groups in order to clarify the optimal age for using BP for AVR.
MethodsThis study involved human subjects and was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at Kyushu University. Between 4 November 1981 and 16 December 2013, 737 patients underwent AVR excluding aortic root replacement with bileaflet MP (n=424) or CEP BP (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA, he use of bioprostheses (BP) has been increasing worldwide along with improvements in durability. 1,2 The use of BP in Japan soared from 9.6% (707/7,364) in 1996 3 to 64.3% (9,832/15,284 valves) in 2011. 4 In our previous study, however, we found that the use of BP should be delayed until 70 years of age in the case of mitral valve replacement (MVR) in Japanese patients. 5
Editorial p 2627The European Society of Cardiology and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery guidelines revised in 2012 indicate that the use of BP for aortic valve replacement (AVR) should be considered in patients aged >65 years (class IIa) and both valves are acceptable, and the choice requires careful analysis of factors other than age in patients aged 60-65. 6 The guidelines published by the Japanese Circulation Society in 2012 also recommend the use of BP in patients aged ≥65 years if the patient has no risk of thromboembolism (class I). Recently, the American Heart Association and American
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Conclusions:The use of BP is suitable in patients aged ≥70 years, while the use of bileaflet MP is preferable in patients aged <60 years. Among patients aged 60-69 years, the use of BP is acceptable because of the lower incidence of anticoagulant-related events and the equivalent long-term survival. (Circ J 2014; 78: 2688 -2695
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