Data collection
The cardiac surgical database is locally managed and centrally overseen
at a national level, following national guidelines for minimal
perioperative data collection, including pre-operative co-variates,
detailed operative characteristics and short-term post-operative
outcomes.
In our centre, patients undergo routine trans-oesophageal
echocardiography in theatre peri-operatively followed by computerised
tomography scans before discharge, and then every year on their follow
up. Early and mid-term outcomes were assessed based on echocardiographic
findings and grading of aortic regurgitation.