Comparison of full and ministernotomy for isolated aortic valve replacement in elderly patients; a prospective randomized study

Abstract

Aim: To compare the results of isolated aortic valve replacement through ministernotomy and full sternotomy in the elderly.Material and Methods: This single-center prospective study includes patients over 60 years of age who undergone isolated aorticvalve replacement either by upper ministernotomy (22 patients) or full sternotomy (22 patients) during 5 years. Both groups werefollowed 12 months postoperatively.Results: All preoperative and operative measures were similar. However, the ministernotomy group had an average of 3 hours lessmechanical ventilation time (p