Clinical Evaluation of the CarboMedics Prosthesis: Experience at Providence Health System in Portland
Kenji Minakata MD, YingXing Wu MD, Kathryn J. Zerr MBA, Gary L. Grunkemeier PhD, John R. Handy, Jr. MD, Aftab Ahmad MD, Albert Starr MD, Anthony P. Furnary MD

Between July 1994 and December 2000, a total of 696 CarboMedics valves was implanted in 616 patients at the authors’ institutions. Aortic valve replacement (AVR) was performed in 350 patients (57%), mitral valve replacement (MVR) in 161 (26%), double (aortic + mitral) valve replacement (DVR) in 79 (13%), and other procedures in 26 (4%). Operative mortality was 4.3% for AVR, 6.8% for MVR, and 7.6% for DVR. Survival at five years was 80.1% for AVR, 73.0% for MVR, and 64.6% for DVR. Freedom from reoperation at five years was 97.6% for AVR, 98.1% for MVR, and 94.1% for DVR; freedom from thromboembolism at five years was 96.1% for AVR, 97.9% for MVR, and 88.3% for DVR. One valve thrombosis was found after MVR, and another at the mitral position after DVR. Early and intermediate-term follow up results show the clinical performance of this valve to be satisfactory, and results comparable with those obtained for other mechanical valves.