Mid-term Clinical Outcomes in a Cohort of Asymptomatic or Mildly Symptomatic Korean Patients with Bicuspid Aortic Valve in a Tertiary Referral Hospital

• Published in: Journal of cardiovascular imaging 2019, 27(2), , pp.105-118
• Main Authors: Sun, Byung Joo, Oh, Jin Kyung, Lee, Sun Hack, Jang, Jeong Yoon, Lee, Ji Hye, Lee, Sahmin, Kim, Dae Hee, Song, Jong Min, Kang, Duk Hyun, Song, Jae Kwan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original; 내과학
• ISSN: 2586-7210; 2586-7296
• DOI: 10.4250/jcvi.2019.27.e19

Although bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is one of the most common congenital heart diseases, clinical outcome data regarding BAV are still limited. We evaluated clinical characteristics and mid-term clinical outcomes of asymptomatic Korean patients with bicuspid aortic valve. We initiated a prospective registry in 2014 at a tertiary referral hospital. To develop a cohort of asymptomatic patients, we excluded patients who previously underwent open heart surgery (OHS) or who had OHS within 6 months of referral. A total of 170 patients (117 male [69%], age 50 ± 13 years) were enrolled. More than 70% (n = 124, 73%) were incidentally diagnosed with BAV during routine health examinations or preoperative screening for non-cardiac surgery. At the time of enrollment, moderate to severe aortic stenosis (AS) or regurgitation (AR) was present in 77 patients (45%) and 98 (58%) showed aortic dilation: 42 (25%) had non-significant valvular dysfunction without aortic dilation. During a median follow-up of 4 years, AS severity increased significantly (p < 0.001), while there was no significant change in AR severity (p = 0.361). A total of 27 patients (16%) underwent OHS, including isolated aortic valve (AV) surgery (n = 11, 41%), AV with combined aortic surgery (n = 12, 44%), and isolated aortic surgery (n = 4, 15%): no patient developed aortic dissection. Moderate to severe AS (hazard ratio [HR] 4.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.83-11.62; p = 0.001), NYHA class ≥ 2 (HR 2.53; 95% CI 1.01-6.35; p = 0.048) and aortic dilation (HR 2.13; 95% CI 0.87-5.21; p = 0.099) were associated with surgical events. Progression patterns of valvular dysfunction and impacts of BAV phenotype on OHS should be explored in future studies with longer follow-up durations.