OBJECTIVE: This work aimed at establishing scientific criteria using the valve size mismatch to predict the transvalvar gradient resultant of aortic valve replacement. METHOD: Thirty-one consecutive patients who survived aortic valve replacement surgeries using Labcor porcine stented prosthesis, in the period from March 1993 to June 2002 were studied. Each patient was submitted to an echocardiogram within three postoperative months at the same institution. The mean transvalvar gradient pressure was compared with the diameter of the prosthesis and the patient's body surface area. RESULTS: The p-value for the diameter of the prosthesis was 0.81 and 0.59 for the R Index. CONCLUSION: No relation at all was found to help to predict the postoperative pressure gradient, based on the prosthesis size and the body surface area of the patients.
Heart valve prosthesis implantation; Heart valve diseases; Aortic valve
