초록
background: The prognosis after an aortic valve replacment can be affected significantly by the transprosthetic pressure gradient which is determined mainly by the size of the patients body and the prosthesis used. We analyzed the hemodynamic feature of two relatively new prosthese the ATS and the evensized Medtronic-Hall(M-H) valves by measuring the transprosthetic pressure gradient in the cases where small sizes (23mm or smaller) were used. Material and method: There were 94 patients who received whom aortic valve replacement with prosthesis smaller than 23 mm from October 1994 to June 1998. In these patients the transprosthetic pressure gradient clalculated from the pressure half time during postoperative Dopper echocardiographic examination was compared between the prostheses of different sizes. The body surface area of each patient was also taken into consideration. result: The mean pressure gradient and body surface area in each group were 21.7$\pm$10.2 mmHg and 1.52$\pm$0.14m2 in ATS 19mm 11.4$\pm$6.5 mmHg and 1,57$\pm$0.20m2 in M-H 20mm 15.2$\pm$6.3 mmHg and 1.54$\pm$0.13m2 in ATS 21mm 9.3$\pm$2.5 mmHg and 1.63 $\pm$0.14m2 in M-H 22 mm and 12.9$\pm$5.3 mmHg and 1.69$\pm$0.13m2 in ATS 23mm. Conclusion: The 19mm ATS prosthesis showed significant trasprosthetic pressure gradient which is similar to the values previously reported with other bileaflet prosthesesm Close follow-up was needed in terms of exercise capacity and change in left ventiricular geometry. In patients with small aortic valve annulus the 20mm M-H valve is recomendable as an alternative to 19mm bileaflet valves because it has less pressure gradient with similar outer diameter.