The TTK chitra heart valve—A single centre experience with midterm results

Abstract

Background

The Chitra TTK heart valve has been in use at G.K.N.M. Hospital, Coimbatore, as the valve of choice. Initially this valve was used as part of a multi-centric trial and later it was the valve of choice in our institution.

Methods

Between December 1992 and July 1998, a total of 152 Chitra valves were implanted and these form the basis of this study. There were 65 aortic and 64 mitral implants and the rest were double valves.

Results

There was one early death due to infective endocarditis. There were 7 late deaths, 3 in aortic group (mean interval after surgery being 18.6 months), 3 in mitral group (interval of 8.6 months) and 1 in double valve group (interval of 7 months). The cause of the late deaths included endocarditis in 2 patients and choked valve in 2 patients. In the rest, the cause of death could not be ascertained. The remaining 144 patients were followed up (a total of 622 patient years of follow-up) with clinical and echocardiographic evaluation. There were 11 patients (7.2%) with thrombo-embolic episodes, 5 of whom had major events and the rest were minor with a linearized rate of 1.8 percent patient year. Haemodynamic studies in postoperative patients were comparable to other prosthetic valves. The thrombo-embolism free survival was 82% at 5 years. The actuarial survival was 78% at 5 years.

Conclusion

The Chitra valve is comparable to other mechanical valves