• Christophe de Meester, Bernhard L Gerber, David Vancraeynest, Anne-Catherine Pouleur, Philippe Noirhomme, Agnès Pasquet, Gébrine El Khoury, and Jean-Louis Vanoverschelde.
• Pôle de Recherche Cardiovasculaire, Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; Division of Cardiology, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.
• J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2015 Nov 1; 150 (5): 1100-8.

ObjectivesThe management of asymptomatic patients with severe aortic regurgitation remains controversial. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to assess the long-term outcomes and incidence of cardiac complications among asymptomatic patients with severe aortic regurgitation who underwent operation early, in the absence of any class I or class IIa guideline triggers, or were managed conservatively and eventually underwent operation whenever these triggers appeared.MethodsA total of 160 consecutive asymptomatic patients (50 ± 17 years) with severe aortic regurgitation were prospectively followed up for a median of 7.2 years. Overall and cardiovascular survivals and the need for repeat aortic regurgitation surgery were evaluated in an "early surgery" group (n = 91) and a "conservatively managed" group (n = 69).ResultsTen-year overall (91% ± 4% vs 89% ± 5%, P = .87) and cardiovascular (96% ± 2% vs 96% ± 3%, P = .79) survivals were similar among the early surgery and conservatively managed groups. Conservatively managed patients were further sub-stratified according to the regularity and quality of their follow-up. Patients who were regularly followed up by a certified cardiologist had a better 10-year overall survival than patients undergoing no or a looser follow-up (95% ± 5% vs 79% ± 10%, P = .045). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis identified age (P = .003) and male gender (P = .024) as independent predictors of survival. Early surgical management was not a predictor of outcome (P = .45).ConclusionsOur results show that the outcome of asymptomatic patients with severe aortic regurgitation is not different between an early surgical and a more conservative strategy, provided that the conservatively managed patients are regularly followed up and timely referred to surgery as soon as operative triggers develop. This suggests that surgery should not be recommended in patients with aortic regurgitation who do not meet current guidelines for intervention.Copyright © 2015 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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