The Clinical Aspects of Heart Valve Replacement: An Overview

Cardiac surgeons have to start from the basis that no perfect heart valve prosthesis presently exists. In the past few years a number of heart valve substitutes have been released for clinical implantation with little objective data to support their clinical acceptability. Uncertainty exists in the minds of many cardiac surgeons in interpreting results of in vitro and in vivo testing. Confusion has been increased by the tendency of many units to implant a small number of a variety of different heart valve substitutes, thus losing the opportunity for meaningful data. Further progress in the understanding and development of better heart valve substitutes will require a disciplined approach, both to in vitro and in vivo testing.