Beating heart valve surgery using stentless xenografts as a surgical alternative for patients with end-stage renal failure

Patients suffering from end-stage renal disease are an inhomogeneous high-risk group with a substantial perioperative mortality and morbidity when undergoing cardiac surgical procedures[1-3]. Myocardial ischemia, reperfusion injury and myocardial edema are a few of the deleterious consequences of the traditional use of cardioplegic arrest when performing valve surgery,irrespective of the type of cardioplegia used [4-7]. Novel operative techniques are required to reduce these induced perioperative risks. Clinical studies in the past have demonstrated the efficacy of beating heart valve surgery in the high-risk patient using retrograde, antegrade or combined coronary perfusion with warm oxygenated blood [8, 9]. We chose to combine the superior hemodynamic profile of stentless xenografts with the concept of performing valve replacement on the empty beating heart with continuous antegrade application of oxygenated blood in 2 chronic hemodialysis patients.