Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):547-550 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.048

The Role of Modification of the Original Ozaki Technique in the Treatment of Aortic Valve Diseases

Adrián Kolesár^a, Tomáš Toporcer^a, Petr Kačer^b, Miroslav Gejguš^a, Martin Sivčo^a, František Sabol

^a Department of Heart Surgery, Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University and the Eastern Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases Ltd., Košice, Slovak Republic

^b Department of Cardiac Surgery, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and Kralovske Vinohrady University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic

The aim of this pilot study is to present our one-year experience with the modification of the original Ozaki procedure for patients with an aortic valve stenosis and aortic valve infective endocarditis. Thirteen patients at the age of 70.5 ± 10 (women/men: 8/5) underwent a replacement of the aortic valve using autologous or heterologous equinus pericardium. The indication for surgery was aortic valve stenosis (n = 10) or aortic valve regurgitation due to infective endocarditis (n = 3). Concomitant MAZE procedure (n = 2), aortocoronary bypass (n = 1), and left ventricular outflow tract myectomy (n = 1) were performed in four patients. One patient refused blood transfusion for religious reasons. The duration of cardiopulmonary bypass was 117.5 ± 14.5 minutes and the X-clamp time was 107.0 ± 14.4 minutes. The mean gradient after surgery was 5.1 ± 1.9 mmHg; the peak gradient was 5.8 ± 2.0 mmHg; the aortic valve area was 3.3 ± 0.5 cm² and aortic valve regurgitation was 0.3 ± 0.2. No 30-day mortality and no redo surgery due to valve failure were recorded. One patient died three months after surgery due to non-valve-related reasons. The modified Ozaki technique is a potentially effective alternative for younger patients rejecting anticoagulant medications and requiring aortic valve surgery. The preferred target group of patients for the use of this technique are those with a small aortic annulus and those with active infectious endocarditis.

Keywords: Aortic valve stenosis, Infective endocarditis, Ozaki (Benaki) procedure

Received: March 28, 2020; Revised: May 14, 2020; Accepted: May 19, 2020; Published: December 11, 2020  Show citation