Simultaneous Aortic and Mitral Valve Surgery Early Results: A 16-Year Single-Center Experience

Introduction: The Euro Heart Survey on Valvular Heart Disease reports that approximately 17% of patients with valvular heart disease are affected by two or more valves simultaneously. The most common combination requiring simultaneous surgery is aortic and mitral valve surgery. This procedure remains highly demanding for all surgical teams, even today. The primary focus of this study is to present, for the first time, the early postoperative results of simultaneous aortic and mitral valve surgery at our clinic. We aim to compare our outcomes with those reported by other cardiovascular surgical centers, with a strong emphasis on patient well-being and survival rates. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study that included adult patients who underwent simultaneous aortic and mitral valve surgery between January 2007 and December 2023 at the Cardiac Surgery Service, UHC "Mother Theresa", Tirana, Albania. The Data collection was performed using operating room registers and hospital medical records. Demographic, clinical, and non-clinical data were gathered for each patient before, during, and after the surgery. Results: This study included 121 patients, comprising 55 males (45.5%) and 66 females (55.5%). The average age of the study population was 56.41 ± 10.35 years. Most patients underwent elective surgery (111, 91.7%), while 10 (8.3%) were urgent surgical cases. Aortic valve regurgitation was the most prevalent pathology, affecting 58 patients (47.9%). The hospital mortality rate was 6.6% (8 patients). The most common postoperative complications included low cardiac output (17.4%), conduction disturbances requiring permanent pacemaker implantation (8.3%), new-onset atrial fibrillation (8.3%), and postoperative hemorrhage (5.8%). Conclusions: Our study on simultaneous aortic and mitral valve surgery at our clinic has demonstrated satisfactory early outcomes, including low rates of early mortality and major postoperative complications. These findings offer valuable insights for the medical community and contribute to the ongoing discourse on cardiac surgery outcomes.