Does bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement improve 15-year survival or stroke compared to mechanical aortic valve replacement in patients aged 50 to 69 years?
In patients aged 50 to 69 years, bioprosthetic aortic valves offer similar 15-year survival and stroke rates as mechanical valves, with a trade-off of higher reoperation risk but lower major bleeding risk.
Among propensity-matched patients aged 50 to 69 years who underwent aortic valve replacement with bioprosthetic compared with mechanical valves, there was no significant difference in 15-year survival or stroke. Patients in the bioprosthetic valve group had a greater likelihood of reoperation but a lower likelihood of major bleeding. These findings suggest that bioprosthetic valves may be a reasonable choice in patients aged 50 to 69 years.
Chiang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.