Redo aortic root operations in late prosthetic endocarditis: clinical case series

Prosthetic aortic valve endocarditis is a severe disease that quickly leads to heart failure. Owing to microorganisms and their toxins constantly entering the bloodstream, bypassing biological barriers, and hemodynamic disturbances, systemic embolism develops quite quickly, leading to sepsis and multi-organ failure. Conservative antibiotic therapy is often not effective because the infectious focus is located in the avascular zone. The presence of an implanted foreign body promotes adhesion of bacteria on the surface of the prosthetic tissue with simultaneous isolation from the action of phagocytes. Conservative treatment of prosthetic infectious endocarditis has an extremely unfavourable prognosis. Hospital mortality without operation is approximately 80%. Operations for prosthetic infectious endocarditis of the aortic valve are technically complex and require a highly qualified operating surgeon. The most difficult operations involve extension of the abscess to the aortic root, area of mitral-aortic continuity and left ventricular outflow tract. In such situations, it is necessary to perform complex reconstructive operations on the aortic root, mitral-aortic continuity and left ventricular outflow tract. This study presents an overview of a series of complex redo operations on the aortic root and the ascending aorta in late prosthetic infectious endocarditis, with an analysis of the main tactical and technical aspects of the operations. Moreover, similar operations can be performed with good results by an experienced cardiac surgeon. In this case, it is necessary that prior to operation, the surgeon develops an algorithm of actions and determines 1) optimal access to the heart, 2) perfusion scheme, 3) type of implantable conduit, 4) cardiolysis performance features, 5) myocardial protection scheme and 6) features of the treatment of the infectious focus.