Isolated aortic valve repair—how to do it and long-term results: suture annuloplasty

Today, isolated repair of the regurgitant aortic valve is an increasingly accepted alternative to replacement. Since its first description more than 2 decades ago (1), marked progress in understanding of normal function and configuration of aortic valve and root has been made. Different predictors for repair failure have been identified, such as dilatation of the basal ring (2,3), in particular in bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) repair (2). This was supported by experimental studies focusing on the interrelation of annular diameter and valve competence (4)