In a 2 yr period 105 patients underwent isolated aortic valve replacement without hospital death. Eighty three patients were operated on using hypothermic ischemic arrest; 22 patients had coronary perfusion. The early postoperative cardiac performance and incidence of complications did not differ between groups, although cardiopulmonary bypass time was shorter in the ischemic arrest group. These data suggest that ischemic arrest is a satisfactory method for myocardial preservation. However, because of the low hospital mortality rate with either method, these results and those of others cannot be taken to indicate the superiority of any method of myocardial preservation.
