The CarboMedics Prosthetic Heart Valve: Experience with 1,084 Implants
Francesco Santini MD, Gianluca Casali MD, Francesca Viscardi MD, Alessandro Favaro MD, Samuele Pentiricci MD, Mario Lusini MD, Andrea Rossi MD, Alessandro Mazzucco MD

Between October 1991 and December 2000, 942 consecutive patients (514 males, 428 females; mean age 58 ± 11 years) underwent implantation with a CarboMedics heart valve. Preoperatively, 69% of patients were in NYHA classes III or IV; 14.2% of patients had undergone previous cardiac surgery. Among patients, 469 (49.8%) underwent aortic valve replacement, 330 (35.0%) mitral, 142 (15.1%) double (mitral-aortic) and one patient had a tricuspid valve replacement. Early mortality was 2.3%, and late mortality 3.1% (valve-related mortality 1%). Actuarial survival at five years was 89%, and there were no cases of structural valve deterioration. Currently, 94% of survivors are in NYHA classes I or II (p ‹0.05).