BACKGROUND: The Duromedics valve has been used in Korea since 1982, however, but there were no long term clinical results that have been reported. This paper presents the long term clinical results of Duromedics valve implanted in Seoul National University Hospital. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Between 1987 and 1988, 23 patients underwent cardiac valve replacement with Duromedics mechanical valve. There were 8 mitral valve replacements, 5 aortic valve replacements, one tricuspid valve replacement, 6 aortic and mitral valve replacements, and one mitral and tricuspid valve replacement. There were 12 men and 11 women. The mean age was 35+/-10(15~52) years. We evaluated the clinical performance of Duromedics cardiac prosthesis. RESULT: The early operative mortality was 4.3%(1/23) and the late morlatity was 4.3%(1/23). Causes of death were low cardiac output syndrome and structural valvular failure. The mean follow-up duration was 133+/-43(8~157) months. There were 3 reoperations. The causes of reoperations were thrombosis and structural failure and nonstructural valvular failure. The actuarial survival rate at 10 years was 90.9%. CONCLUSION: Although the number of patients was not sufficient for effective clinical study, the long term clinical results of Duromedics valve was relatively good and there was no structural defect in this mechanical valve. However, more research is needed in the future.
Aortic Valve ; Cardiac Output, Low ; Cause of Death ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Heart Valves ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Mitral Valve ; Mortality ; Prostheses and Implants ; Seoul ; Survival Rate ; Thrombosis ; Tricuspid Valve