Abstract
The bicuspid aortic valve is the most common congenital heart disorder potentially resulting, among other things, in the development of aortic valve stenosis or regurgitation. In cardiac surgery, there has been an increasing tendency in the last decade toward aortic valve sparing procedures, even in the presence of the bicuspid aortic valve.
The benefits of sparing the native aortic valve include elimination of risks associated with replacing the native valve with a prosthetic one. These are thromboembolic and bleeding complications due to permanent anticoagulation treatment in patients with mechanical valves, the risk of premature degeneration of the biological valve requiring reoperation and the risk of prosthetic valve endocarditis in both types of prosthetic valves.
The authors present a review addressing sparing surgery in the incompetent bicuspid aortic valve. The paper examines the anatomy of the bicuspid aortic valve and indications for surgery, and discusses in detail individual surgical te