Aortic valve replacement with coronary bypass grafting. Significant determinants of ten-year survival

Concomitant aortic valve replacement (AVR) and myocardial revascularization were performed on 197 patients between 1969 and 1981. Operative mortality during the period 1969 to 1975 was 15.6% compared to 5.0% for the years 1976 to 1981 (p <0.02). The incidence of perioperative myocardial infarction (PMI) declined over the same period from 14.2% to 2.0% (p <.01). Functional class and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure significantly influenced mortality, whereas age, sex, duration of symptoms, cardiac index, wall motion abnormality, type of valve lesion, and completeness of revascularization did not. Type of myocardial preservation did not significantly affect operative mortality, although a trend favoring either cardioplegia or continuous perfusion of both coronary ostia and grafts was observed. Life table analysis shows a survival rate during the 10 year follow-up period equal to that of patients undergoing isolated AVR. Coronary bypass grafting (CABG) returns patients with combined aortic valve (AVD) and coronary artery disease (CAD) to a prognostic curve determined by their valvular disease alone.