Heart Valve Surgery Preoperative Assessment and Clinical Outcome

Sammanfattning: A more global analysis of the outcome of heart valve surgery is desirable to reflect the actual benefit for the patient. This thesis focuses on the preoperative assessment of the patient, and the outcome after surgery with regard to operative mortality, long-term survival, valve-related complications, and quality of life.Magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiography were comparable in assessing severe mitral regurgitation, but did not agree in measuring regurgitant fraction. Natriuretic peptides correlated well to regurgitant fraction on magnetic resonance imaging and to PISA and vena contracta on echocardiography.The risk of death, myocardial injury and postoperative heart failure after valve surgery has decreased over the last decade whereas the proportion older patients has increased.Survival is reduced after mitral valve replacement in patients with severe symptoms whereas patients with less symptoms have excellent survival. Older patients are more often severly symptomatic at the time of mitral valve surgery.Event-free survival is superior in patients with a mechanical prosthesis, but not influenced by valve type in older patients. A mechanical prosthesis is associated with a higher risk of bleeding < 5 years from surgery, especially in older patients; and a bioprosthesis is associated with a higher risk of thromboembolism > 5 years from surgery. Ageing with a mechanical prosthesis implied an increased risk for an adverse event, this was not true for bioprostheses.Quality of life after complicated heart valve surgery resulted in reduced physical health but equal mental health compared to uncomplicated controls.