SAVR linked to ‘excellent’ long-term survival for patients with bicuspid aortic valves
Surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) is associated with a high seven-year survival rate among patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease, according to new data published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.[1]
The study’s authors reviewed data from nearly 28,000 patients with BAV disease who underwent isolated SAVR from July 2011 to March 2019. The median age was 60 years old, median Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Predicted Risk of Mortality (PROM) score was 0.97% and median follow-up period was just shy of four years. Patients were excluded if over the age of 90 or treated with discontinued bioprostheses. All data came from the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database.
Overall, unadjusted survival rates were 97.3% after one year, 94.6% after three years, 90% after five years and 87.1% after seven years. These rates were similar for both men and women. Of the deaths where specific data were available, 51.6% were cardiovascular deaths. As one may expect, data suggest mortality risks rise for patients who are older at the time of treatment or present with a higher STS PROM score.
“Patients with BAV likely have a unique longitudinal survival profile, highlighting the need for individualized heart team decision making in this population,” wrote first author James Mehaffey, MD, MSc, a cardiac surgeon with West Virginia University School of Medicine, and colleagues.
Mehaffey and colleagues did point to certain limitations of this study. For example, specific details about bicuspid morphology and calcification burden were not available for each patient. Even with these points in mind, however, the group concluded that their research “highlights excellent seven-year survival” for a large patient population.
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Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.