Thirteen year experience with aortic valve replacement

Two hundred forty-one patients (163 male, 78 female) underwent isolated aortic valve replacement at the Medical College of Georgia from 1963 to 1976. The mean age was 46 years (range 12 to 72). Thirty-seven percent had aortic stenosis, 39 percent aortic regurgitation and 24 percent mixed valve lesions. One hundred ninety-eight were in New York Heart Association functional class III or IV. Forty-three were in functional class I or II and underwent surgery for endocarditis, severe regurgitation with rapidly increasing heart size or appearance of angina or electrocardiographic signs of ischemia.