Cardiac valve replacement in children

소아환자에서의 심장판막치환수술

Valve replacement in children, aging up to 15 years [Mean 11.g years], has been done at Seoul National University Hospital over the past 14 years since 1968. Fifty-one patients have received 59 artificial valves: 55 bioprosthetic and 4 prosthetic valves. Thirty-one patients [60.8%] had rheumatic heart disease and the remainder [39.2%] had congenital heart disease. Forty-two patients [82.4%] survived operation: 9 patients [17.7%] died within one monfi3 postoperatively and 4 patients [7.8%]during the follow-up period with the overall mortality rate of Thromboembolic complication occurred in 3 patients with 2 deaths: 5.9% embolic rate or 4.68% emboli per patient-year. One patient who had been on coumadin anticoagulation died from cerebral hemorrhage. One mitral Ionescu-Shiley valve failed 19 months after first replacement and this was successfully re-replaced with the same kind of valve. Actuarial survival rate was 59.9% at 4 years after surgery. Thromboembolism-free and valve failure-free survivals were 80.0% and 93.1% respectively. These clinical results in the pediatric age group suggested that valve replacement in children was a serious undertaking with a higher mortality rate than in adults. However, the main superiority on the low thrombogenecity of the xenograft valve over the mechanical one warrants its continuing use until the question of its durability would otherwise be answered by a further study of clinical follow-up.