Background and objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate changes in the hemodynamics associated with different types of aortic prostheses and to evaluate patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM) at rest and after exercise. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 150 patients who presented with indications for aortic valve replacement (AVR) with/without concomitant surgery from March 2019 to January 2020. The study population included 90 (60%) men and 60 (40%) women (mean age, 67.33 ± 10.22 years; range, 37-88 years). Echocardiography data such as peak and mean transprosthetic pressure gradients (Gmax, Gmean), velocity (V), effective orifice area (EOA), and indexed EOA (iEOA) were derived at rest and after exercise at baseline and before discharge. The study patients performed the six-minute walk test (6MWT) on the 5th-7th postoperative day. Results: Stented tissue valves showed excellent performance at rest and after exercise in comparison with mechanical valves, which showed favorable hemodynamics at rest only. At the time of discharge, moderate PPM was observed in 7/74 patients (9.5%) at rest and 5/98 (3.3%) patients after exercise. None of the patients showed severe PPM. EOA and iEOA were not significantly different between the groups. However, the stented group showed more pronounced changes in EOA and iEOA after exercise, whereas the changes in the mechanical valve group did not reach significance. Conclusions: In the early postoperative period, mechanical valves and stented valves showed favorable resting hemodynamics. The PPM rate measured after exercise was lower than that at rest.

Although major pathogenesis mechanisms of heart failure (HF) are well established, the significance of early (mal)adaptive structural changes of cardiomyocytes preceding symptomatic ischemic HF remains ambiguous. The aim of this study is to present the morphological characterization of changes in cardiomyocytes and their reorganization of intermediate filaments during remodeling preceding symptomatic ischemic HF in an adult human heart. A total of 84 myocardial tissue samples from middle-left heart ventricular segments were analyzed histomorphometrically and immunohistochemically, observing the cardiomyocyte's size, shape, and desmin expression changes in the remodeling process: Stage A of HF, Stage B of HF, and Stages C/D of HF groups (ACC/AHA classification). Values p < 0.05 were considered significant. The cellular length, diameter, and volume of Stage A of HF increased predominantly by the diameter vs. the control group (p < 0.001) and continued to increase in Stage B of HF in a similar pattern (p < 0.001), increasing even more in the C/D Stages of HF predominantly by length (p < 0.001). Desmin expression was increased in Stage A of HF vs. the control group (p < 0.001), whereas it was similar in Stages A and B of HF (p > 0.05), and most intense in Stages C/D of HF (p < 0.001). Significant morphological changes of cardiomyocytes and their cytoskeletal reorganization were observed during the earliest remodeling events preceding symptomatic ischemic HF.