Between March 1982 and December 1995, 2607 Fisics-Incor bovine pericardial bioprostheses were implanted in 2259 patients. The average age was 47.2 ± 17.5 years, and 55% were male. Rheumatic fever was present in 1031 (45.7%) patients. We performed 1073 aortic valve replacements, 1085 mitral replacements, 27 tricuspid replacements, 195 mitral-aortic replacements, and other 16 combined valve replacements. There were associated procedures in 788 (32.9%) patients, the most frequent being tricuspid valve repair (9.2%) and myocardial revascularization (7.7%). The hospital mortality was 194 (8.6%) patients, 8.6% for the mitral group, 4.7% for the aortic, and 12.8% for the double valve replacements. The linearized rates for calcification, thromboembolism, rupture, leak and endocarditis were, respectively, 1.1%; 0.2%; 0.9%; 0.1% and 0.5% patient-year. The actuarial survival curve was 56.7 ± 5.4% in 15 years. Free from endocarditis was 91.9 ± 2%, thromboembolism 95 ± 1,7%, rupture 43.7 ± 9.8%, leak 98.9 ± 4.5%, and calcification 48.8 ± 7.9% in 15 years. In the late post-operative period, 1614 (80.6%) patients were in NYHA functional class I. We conclude that the results with the Fisics-Incor bovine pericardial bioprostheses were satisfactory in our group of patients.
Bioprosthesis; Heart valve prosthesis
