Surgical treatment of paravalvular leak: Long-term results in a single-center experience (up to 14 years)

Objectives The aim of this study is to report the long-term outcomes (median follow-up time, 7 years; range, 1 month to 14 years) of patients who underwent surgery for paravalvular leak in our single-center experience. Methods From October 2000 to November 2007, 122 consecutive patients underwent surgery for symptomatic paravalvular leak (40 patients with aortic paravalvular leak; 82 with mitral paravalvular leak). In 7 patients (5.7%, all mitral), surgery was performed on the beating heart through a right thoracotomy. In 35% of patients, multiple paravalvular leaks were present. Results The mean age of patients was 62 ± 11 years, and European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation II was 7.2% ± 6%. Most of the patients were in New York Heart Association functional class III or IV (60%). Symptomatic hemolysis was present in 31% of the patients, and 41% of the patients had more than 1 previous cardiac operation. Paravalvular leak repair was feasible in 79 patients (65%), whereas in 43 patients (35%) prosthesis re-replacement was required. Thirty-day mortality was 10.7% (13/122 patients; 5% for aortic paravalvular leak and 13% for mitral paravalvular leak; P = .1); 2 patients (1.6%) with residual severe mitral paravalvular leak underwent successful redo surgery before discharge. Median length of stay was 7 days. Overall actuarial survival was 39% ± 6% at 12 years; freedom from cardiac death was 54% ± 7% at 12 years. Only 1 patient underwent redo surgery during follow-up. Multivariable analysis identified preoperative chronic renal failure (hazard ratio, 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.4-4.9; P = .03) and more than 1 previous cardiac reoperation (hazard ratio, 2.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-4; P = .03) as independent predictors of death at follow-up. Conclusions The operative mortality of surgical treatment of paravalvular leak is still high. Long-term outcomes remain suboptimal in these challenging patients, especially in the presence of multiple previous cardiac operations and associated co-pathologies. These results support the importance of alternative therapeutic options.