Comparative Clinical Outcomes with St. Jude Medical, Medtronic Hall and CarboMedics Mechanical Heart Valves
Roy G. Masters MD, Joe Helou MD, Andrew L. Pipe MD, Wilbert J. Keon MD

This study examined the clinical results with St. Jude Medical (SJM), Medtronic Hall (MH) and CarboMedics (CM) mechanical valves in patients who had either aortic valve replacement (AVR) or mitral valve replacement (MVR). AVR was performed in 953 patients, and MVR in 591patients. Preoperatively in the AVR group more MH patients had previous surgery (p = 0.001) or were in NYHA class III/IV (p = 0.03), and more CM patients had a concomitant surgical procedure (p = 0.005). The hospital mortality for AVR with SJM, MH and CM valves was 3.8, 4.7 and 5.3%, respectively (p = 0.65). In the MVR group there were more males in the CM group (p = 0.011), more CM patients had concomitant surgery (p = 0.001), and more MH patients had previous surgery (p = 0.006). The hospital mortality for MVR with SJM, MH and CM valves was 8.3, 10.2 and 6.0%, respectively (p = 0.35). For both AVR and MVR there was no late survival advantage according to the valve used (p = 0.24 and p = 0.90, respectively). The actuarial freedom from bleeding was similar within the AVR (p = 0.36) and MVR (p = 0.70) groups, as was the actuarial freedom from thromboembolism (AVR, p = 0.04; MVR, p = 0.27).