RESULTS
During the study period, out of 252 patients, 65 patients underwent aortic root replacement (ARR), out of which 35 patients underwent root replacement with a CVG and 30 patients underwent root replacement with the Freestyle porcine root (PAR).
Preoperative characteristics are presented in Table 1. There was a significant difference in mean age between the two operative groups (CVG vs PAR: 50.5 vs 64.5 years). All other pre-operative co-variates (gender, diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), renal failure and Euroscore.