Abstract

Freeze-dried dog and pig aortic valves sutured within tubes of woven Teflon and knitted Dacron have been inserted into the descending aorta of 56 dogs with aortic incompetence. All the valves placed inside woven Teflon were destroyed, with one exception, where six months after insertion the valve was competent and in good condition. Most of the valves in knitted Dacron remained in good condition for up to three months after surgery. The few bad results with knitted Dacron were related to infection or bad haemodynamic conditions. There was no observable difference in behaviour between the homologous and the heterologous valves during the short follow-up of these experiments.