The combined impact of postoperative heart failure and euroScore on long-term outcome after surgery for aortic stenosis

• BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY:Although the EuroSCORE was developed for predicting operative mortality after cardiac surgery, it has also been shown to predict long-term mortality. It has been reported that postoperative heart failure (PHF) in association with surgery, albeit comparatively benign in the short term, has a profound impact on five-year survival after surgery for aortic stenosis (AS). The study aim was to determine the combined impact of EuroSCORE and PHF on long-term survival after isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) for AS.METHODS:A total of 397 patients (48% females; average age 70 +/- 10 years) who underwent AVR for AS at the authors' institution between 1995 and 2000 was studied. The cohort was subdivided according to the additive EuroSCORE into a high-risk group (EuroSCORE >7) and a low-risk group (EuroSCORE < or = 7), and further analyzed in relation to PHF.RESULTS:The average follow up was 8.1 years (range: 5.2-11.2 years). Forty-five patients (11%) were treated for procedure-associated PHF. Patients with or without PHF and a high-risk EuroSCORE had crude five-year survivals of 57% and 64%, respectively (p = 0.6), whereas those with or without PHF but with a low-risk EuroSCORE had crude five-year survivals of 58% and 89%, respectively (p = 0.0003).CONCLUSION:Both PHF and a high EuroSCORE were associated with poor long-term survival. The role of PHF per se for the long-term prognosis was illustrated by the fact that the negative impact on long-term survival was almost as profound in patients of the low-risk group as of the high-risk group.

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