Abstract
Aortic regurgitation is a principal heart valve lesion strongly connected to aortic dilation. Traditional surgical treatment by means of a valve replacement has been recently enriched by a systematically built-up strategy of reconstructive surgery of the aortic valve.
The book from authors from the Department of Cardiac Surgery in Hradec Kralove together with an international team of co-authors offers a comprehensive knowledge of this heart valve disorder. It starts from a detailed anatomical study of the aortic valve including its anomalies (namely the bicuspid aortic valve) and modern understanding of the dynamic function of the aortic root.
Cardiologist care for a patient with aortic regurgitation is based on quantification of the regurgitation severity by means of echocardiography and heart catheterization, and also computed tomography and magnetic resonance. Detailed echocardiographic analysis of the valve is unavoidable prerequisite of surgical reconstruction of the valve.
In the second part of the book, all modalities of treatment of the regurgitating aortic valve are presented, from a classical valve replacement with mechanical or biological substitute, allograft or patient's own pulmonary valve (Ross procedure) to TAVI and full root replacement. Special attention is put on the reconstruction of the patient's own aortic valve and root, from the geometrical principles to the description of various surgical techniques and interpretation of echocardiographic findings.
In the final chapters, the evaluation and comparison of all therapeutic strategies is presented together with practical recommendations for the out-patients follow-up.