Does a biological aortic valve prosthesis compared to a mechanical prosthesis affect long-term survival and valve-related morbidity in middle-aged patients?
Middle-aged patients undergoing aortic valve replacement may benefit more from mechanical rather than biological prostheses due to lower long-term valve-related morbidity.
While survival was not different among groups, patients with a biological prosthesis showed a higher valve-related morbidity at follow-up. Therefore, middle-aged patients should preferably receive a mechanical prosthesis.
Roumieh et al. (Mon,) studied this question.