Respiratory functional status after conventional and minimally invasive aortic valve replacement surgery – a propensity score analysis

INTRODUCTION Reports describing respiratory function of patients after conventional or minimally invasive cardiac surgery are infrequent. AIM To compare pulmonary functional status after conventional (AVR) and after minimally invasive, through right anterior minithoracotomy, aortic valve replacement (RT-AVR). MATERIAL AND METHODS This was an observational analysis of 212 patients scheduled for RT-AVR and 212 for AVR between January 2011 and December 2014 selected using propensity score matching. Respiratory function based on spirometry examinations is presented. RESULTS Hospital mortality was 1.4% in RT-AVR and 1.9% in AVR (p = 0.777). Predicted mortality (EuroSCORE II) was 3.2 ±1.1% in RT-AVR and 3.1 ±1.6% in AVR (p = 0.298). Mechanical ventilation time in intensive care unit (ICU) was 7.3 ±3.9 h for RT-AVR and 9.6 ±5.5 h for AVR patients (p < 0.001). Seven days and 1 month after surgery, the reduction of spirometry functional tests was greater in the AVR group than in the RT-AVR group (p < 0.001). Three months after surgery, all spirometry parameters were still reduced and had not returned to preoperative values in both RT-AVR and AVR groups. However, the difference in spirometry values was no longer statistically significant between RT-AVR and AVR groups. Presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and conventional AVR surgical technique were associated with lower values of spirometry parameters after surgery in linear median regression. CONCLUSIONS Respiratory function based on spirometry examinations was less impaired after minimally invasive RT-AVR surgery in comparison to conventional AVR surgery through median sternotomy.