Characteristics and longer-term outcomes of paravalvular leak after aortic and mitral valve surgery

BackgroundParavalvular leak (PVL) is often seen after aortic (AV) and mitral valve (MV) surgery, either due to infection or valve dehiscence. We sought to describe predictors of longer-term outcomes in patients who developed PVL after AV and MV surgery and were considered eligible for reoperative cardiac surgery (RCS).MethodsWe studied 495 such patients (65 ± 14 years, 65% men, 47% with MV PVL) who presented at our center between January 2003...