The Ross procedure with a bicuspid pulmonary autograft.

BACKGROUND >We illustrate the steps for a Ross procedure in a 24-years old patient who presented with an unicuspid aortic valve with mixed aortic stenosis/aortic regurgitation and who was intraoperatively found to have a bicuspid pulmonary autograft, warranting the need for concurrent repair of the autograft. Without repair of the bicuspid pulmonary autograft, this patient would likely have had cusp prolapse and residual aortic insufficiency, compromising early and late valve function, and ultimately the patient's outcome. METHODS AND RESULTS Although it could be argued to have simply replaced our patient's aortic valve with a standard valve prosthesis, his young age posed a challenge with his longer anticipated life expectancy and higher cumulative risk of prosthesis-related complications. The Ross procedure, unlike standard bioprosthetic or mechanical aortic valve replacement, restores expected survival equivalent to that of age and gender-matched general population. A bicuspid pulmonary valve is considered a rare congenital anomaly with an estimated incidence of 0.1% and may be considered a relative contraindication for the Ross procedure. However, our patient had favourable bicuspid anatomic characteristics with pliable cusps, good commissural orientation, and geometric height of 20 mm, and we applied all the principles of bicuspid aortic valve repair with symmetric commissural implantation, a tailored aortic annuloplasty and achieving an effective height of 10 mm with central cusp plication to ensure a well functioning bicuspid pulmonary autograft. At 1 year follow-up, the patient was completely asymptomatic and ambulating without limitations. Repeat transthoracic echocardiography revealed a normal functioning pulmonary autograft with no aortic insufficiency, normally functioning pulmonary homograft, and preserved left ventricular function and dimensions. We have employed this technique successfully in two patients. To our knowledge, only one previous paper presented a repair of a bicuspid pulmonary autograft valve, but this was for moderate aortic insufficiency noted 5 days after the Ross procedure. CONCLUSION In this report, we present the concomitant repair of a bicuspid pulmonary autograft at the time of the index operation. We aim at drawing on the advantages of the Ross procedure for young patients while restoring the function of the bicuspid pulmonary autograft using common bicuspid aortic valve repair techniques, thus extending the use of the Ross procedure to more patients who would otherwise be considered ineligible.