OBJECTIVES:

Heart Valve Replacement surgeries constitute 20% of all cardiac procedures. In traditional evaluation of surgical results, the cost and effectiveness in terms of patient’s quality of life are not taken in to account. The objective is to exhibit the managerial implications of choice of Mechanical heart valve by comparing ATS and St. Jude Valves in terms of cost and effectiveness.

METHODS:

Data was collected from 98 patients who underwent valve replacement surgeries with Mechanical Heart valves from January 2009 to December 2013 at SRM hospital, India. These patients were surveyed with WHO-QOL BREF questionnaire for their effectiveness in terms of quality of life following surgery.

RESULTS:

Mean age was 35.49 years in St. Jude group and 40.12 years in ATS group. 89% of St. Jude patients had preop NYHA class III Dyspnea, Class I palpitations; 66% of ATS patients were in class III & IV symptoms of dyspnea and palpitations (38.3%). Risk factors and comorbid conditions like smoking, alcoholism, hypertension was higher in ATS than St. Jude male patients. There were more diabetic females in ATS group; patients with long duration of hospitalization (>10days) and ICU stay (>2 days) have high chances of readmission with in initial two years of follow-up with respect to St. Jude group patients. ATS males had better quality of life with respect to domains like psychological (89.57±3.30), social relations (75.26±2.19) and the environment (76.84±3.29) compared to St. Jude.

CONCLUSIONS:

For a period of 3 years follow-up ATS patients had better quality of Life than the St. Jude Mechanical valve despite the little higher costs incurred for Surgical treatment. Considering these two factors ATS valve can be recommended for use by the management as it yields surplus not only to the management but also improves quality of life of patients.