Demographics and baseline characteristics
Between January 2020 and March 2021, we performed SAVR using the INTUITY
Valve System for 38 AS patients at our institution. The mean age of the
patients was 74.2 (SD 7.2) years (range 49–84 years), and 10 (26.3%)
patients were female. Most patients had a history of hypertension
(73.7%) and hyperlipidemia (78.9%). Coronary artery disease, diabetes,
and cerebrovascular accidents were present in 36.8%, 34.2%, and 15.8%
of patients, respectively. We estimated the predicted operative risk
preoperatively through the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk
Evaluation II (EuroSCORE II) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons scores
(STS scores), which showed early mortalities of 2.79 (SD 2.63) and 4.92
(SD 3.85), respectively. Patient baseline characteristics and
cardiovascular and systemic comorbidities are listed in Table 1.
The preoperative mean pressure gradient (PG) over the aortic valve was
40 (SD 15.6) mmHg, and the preoperative mean aortic valve area was 0.8
(SD 0.2) cm2. Table 2 shows an overview of the
preoperative echocardiographic findings of patients.
We performed RD-AVR via median sternotomies in 28 (65.8%) patients and
via upper-hemisternotomies in 13 (34.2%) patients, and there was no
case of conversion to other procedures. Concomitant procedures were
performed in 13 patients (34.2%). We also performed coronary artery
bypass grafting (CABG) in 9 (23.7%) patients; other procedures are
detailed in Table 2. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and cross-clamp times
were 196 (SD, 71) and 65 (SD, 24) min, respectively (Table 3).