Impact of coronary artery disease on valvular heart surgery

Patients who undergo coronary bypass grafting in association with aortic valve replacement currently have a low in-hospital mortality, but their late survival is inferior to that of patients without coronary disease who undergo isolated aortic valve replacement. Patients who receive porcine heterografts to replace the aortic valve have better late survival and event-free survival after aortic valve replacement combined with bypass grafting than those who received mechanical valves. The analyses of patients who combine coronary artery and mitral valve disease is difficult because of changing surgical practices and diagnostic techniques. Patients undergoing surgery for mitral valve replacement combined with bypass grafting have had higher in-hospital mortality and worse late survival than patients undergoing aortic valve replacement combined with bypass grafting. The increased use of techniques for reconstructing rather than replacing the mitral valve may help improve the long-term results for patients undergoing surgery for mitral valve dysfunction combined with coronary disease.