Risk Factors and Outcomes of Reoperative Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement in the United Kingdom

BACKGROUND Mortality after reoperative aortic valve surgery continues to decline but remains high compared with primary isolated replacement. We sought to examine temporal trends, morbidity, and mortality among patients un-dergoing isolated first-time reoperative aortic valve surgery. METHODS The study included all patients undergoing reoperative aortic valve surgery in the United Kingdom between January 2007 and March 2019. Patients undergoing isolated reoperative aortic valve replacement (AVR) were compared with a propensity matched cohort of patients undergoing isolated primary AVR. Outcomes measured included inhospital mortality, neurologic dysfunction, postoperative dialysis, deep sternal wound infections, and hospital length of stay. RESULTS During the study period, 40,858 primary isolated AVRs and 3015 first-time isolated reoperative AVRs were carried out in the United Kingdom. In the propensity matched reoperative group, median age of participants was 69.8 years (60.8-76.2) with median duration between the initial surgery and the reoperation being 7.69 years. Overall mortality was 3.1% (94) for reoperative AVR compared with 1.9% (56) for primary AVR. Mortality of both primary and reoperative AVR declined during the study period. Reoperation, age, New York Heart Association class, and chronic kidney disease were independently associated with early mortality. CONCLUSIONS Reoperative isolated AVR can be performed with acceptable inhospital mortality and provides a benchmark against which alternative strategies should be compared. (Ann Thorac Surg 2023;116:759-67)(c) 2023 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc.