Negative predictors of major bleeding in postoperative aortic valve replacement via mini-thoracotomy

Introduction: Aortic stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease requiring surgical treatment.Minimally invasive surgical techniques have emerged as alternatives to traditional median sternotomy.Objective: to analyze the possible risk factors associated with major bleeding in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement via right anterior mini-thoracotomy and to share the results found in our center.Materials and methods: a retrospective, observational, longitudinal study was conducted in patients undergoing right anterior mini-thoracotomy from July 2015 to December 2022.Demographic and clinical data, as well as relevant surgical and echocardiographic variables, were collected.Results: the mean age of the study population was 58 years, with a predominance of men under 65 years of age.Only three patients experienced major bleeding (4.47%).Advanced age and extracorporeal circulation time (minutes) were associated with major bleeding.No significant differences were found in the other variables analyzed.Conclusions: the study results indicate a low rate of postoperative bleeding in minimally invasive surgery.Advanced age and prolonged extracorporeal circulation time were identified as significant risk factors for major bleeding.However, further studies with a larger sample size are needed to better understand these factors and the safety of minimally invasive surgery.