Long-term outcome of patients with Marfan syndrome with previous aortic surgery but native aortic roots

OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to report the long-term outcomes of patients with Marfan syndrome who had aortic surgery on any aortic segment except for the replacement of the aortic root itself. METHODS An observational retrospective single-centre study was conducted with 115 Marfan syndrome patients who underwent 189 major aortic interventions from 1995 until 2018. Patients without aortic root replacement were identified and aortic root growth was analysed over time. RESULTS Eleven of 115 patients (9.5%) did not have aortic root replacement during a follow-up of 10.5 [standard deviation (SD) 5.7] years and a mean age at last follow-up of 53.9 (SD 13.4) years. Patients without root replacement did not suffer less frequently from any type of acute aortic dissection (type A 27% vs 25%, P = 0.999; type B 36% vs 25%, P = 0.474). Patients with native aortic roots did not undergo fewer aortic interventions than those with aortic root replacement [12/11, mean 1.09 (SD 0.54) operations/patient vs 177/104, mean 1.7 (SD 1.3); P = 0.128]. Progression of the aortic root dimension was 0.5 (SD 0.3) mm/year in the group of patients with native aortic roots. CONCLUSIONS Current data suggest that 10% of patients with Marfan syndrome with previous aortic surgery will be free from aortic root replacement until the sixth decade of life.