Background: Postcongenital heart surgery pulmonary regurgitation requires subsequent pulmonary valve replacement. We sought to compare the outcomes of pulmonary valve replacement after using bioprosthetic valves, porcine versus pericardial bioprosthesis.
Method: Retrospective single-center study of consecutive pulmonary valve replacement in patients with pulmonary regurgitation following initial congenital cardiac surgery. From 2004 to 2016, 82 adult patients (53 males, 29 females) underwent pulmonary valve replacement at a mean age of 28.7 ± 8 years (range 18-52 years) with a mean time to pulmonary valve replacement of 24 ± 7 years (range 13-43 years). Porcine bioprosthetic valves (group 1, n = 32) and pericardial valves (group 2, n = 50) were used. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed (n = 54) at a mean of 18 ± 13 months before and 24 ± 21 months after pulmonary valve replacement.
Results: No significant difference was seen between the groups except that the mean follow-up was longer for group 1 (5.02 ± 2.06 vs 4.08 ± 3.21 years). In-hospital mortality was 1.1%. Follow-up completeness was 100% with no late death. Mean right ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes reduced significantly in both the groups ( P < .001), whereas right ventricular ejection fraction remained unchanged (group 1, P = .129; group 2, P = .675) . Only the left ventricular end-diastolic volume increased in both the groups, but the increase was significant for group 2 only (group 1, P = .070; group 2, P = .015), whereas the left ventricular end-systolic and ejection fraction remained unchanged in both the groups. There was no reoperation for pulmonary valve replacement. Freedom from intervention was 93.8% (group 1) and 100% (group 2) at eight years after pulmonary valve replacement ( P = .407).
Conclusion: Midterm outcomes of pulmonary valve replacement in our adult cohort were satisfactory. Both types of bioprosthetic valves performed comparably for eight years and were a good option in adults.
Keywords: adult congenital heart disease; bioprosthesis; heart valves; pulmonary valve.