Valve repair in congenital aortic valve abnormalities

Many surgical techniques have been described either to repair and to replace the aortic valve. Among the paediatric population the potential for growth has to be preserved and valve reconstruction is therefore of great importance. In the last two years 25 consecutive patients, mean age 8.6 years, with aortic valve disease, underwent aortic valve repair for aortic regurgitation (AR) (10 patients), aortic valve stenosis (5 patients) or mixed lesion (10 patients). None of the patients died neither during hospitalization nor at follow-up (median 9.25 months). In the aortic stenosis (AS) group, one patient required reoperation (re-repair). None of the patients in the AR group developed more than mild AS and mild AR during follow-up. Nine out of 10 patients of the mixed lesion group had no or trivial AR at the follow-up. Left ventricular dimension decreased in all patients after repair. With a better understanding of the causes of AS or AR and the adoption of different techniques, often used in multiple association, we believe that aortic valve repair can be achieved in most patients with a normal left ventricular outflow tract.