Reexamining the Role of Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement After Mediastinal Radiation Therapy

Ghoneim and colleagues retrospectively evaluated surgical risk caused by prior mediastinal radiation therapy (MRT) in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR). The authors found that operative mortality was higher than predicted when AVR was performed with concomitant procedures, and they speculate this is in part related to the longer cardiopulmonary bypass time required. Despite good short-term outcomes in the isolated AVR group, MRT patients undergoing both isolated and concomitant AVR had reduced midterm survival. The authors suggest this should be considered when weighing the choice of device, the invasiveness of the AVR procedure, and the inclusion of concomitant procedures for this population of patients.