Novel technique for patients with heart disease that avoids taking anticoagulants

Patients with heart disease can benefit from a novel technique that avoids having to take anticoagulants. It involves the use of an anatomically shaped valved conduit of the normal aortic root, sutured to an unsupported biological prosthesis. The technique avoids the possibility of reoperation within approximately 15 years.

The technique with a biological prosthesis and who can undergo the operation

This is a novel technique, which has already benefited 35 patients with aortic valve disease, and which avoids patients having to take anticoagulants for life after heart surgery.

This step forward in surgical practice is applied in patients requiring aortic valve and root replacement. In this sense, it can be used in the following situations, among others:

  • aortic insufficiency or valve closure defect
  • dissection or tear in the wall of the ascending aorta
  • stenosis or abnormal narrowing of the valve orifice.

The key to the novelty of the technique lies in the type of prosthesis and the mode of implantation in the patient. Thus, the technique consists in the use of a valved conduit in the shape of a normal aortic root. This conduit is created in the same operating room by suturing an unsupported biological prosthesis to it. The advantages of the technique lie in the fact that the prosthesis is biological and anatomically very similar to the native valve, since this allows greater elasticity, better hemodynamic behavior and avoids problems related to mechanical devices.

Advantages and disadvantages of the cardiac technique

The objective of the experts in cardiac surgery is to improve the living conditions of patients with heart disease.

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The greatest advantage offered by the technique, in certain cases of heart surgery, is that patients do not need to undergo treatment with anticoagulant medication after the operation, something which, until now, they had to take forever. In this way, patients with heart disease are freed from some of the risks associated with this type of medication.

Likewise, since the unsupported bioprosthesis has better hemodynamic characteristics, it allows the patient to have a better quality of life and can even practice strenuous sports. The bioprosthesis is highly durable, and in most cases eliminates the possibility that the patient will eventually have to undergo another operation because the implanted device has been corrupted or damaged. Moreover, 100% of patients do not need reoperation 10 years after the operation, and 83% of patients with heart disease do not need to return to the operating room 15 years later.

However, it is still a heart surgery with a certain technical difficulty that requires extensive experience on the part of the surgeon, and this is the major drawback of this surgery.
The operation and the postoperative period

It is a surgical procedure lasting about three and a half hours, after which the patient will require a stay of 48 hours in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and, subsequently, five days of hospitalization. If everything evolves favorably, the patient will be discharged from the hospital within this period.

The quality of life about two months after the procedure is comparable to that of a person with a native valve.