Pilot Study of a Patient Decision Aid for Valve Choices in Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement

Objective superiority of tissue vs mechanical prostheses in surgical aortic valve replacement remains controversial, placing a greater emphasis on patients to consider personal lifestyle and risk preferences, including the burden of lifelong anticoagulation and the possible need for reoperation. A shared decision-making tool may therefore be of value in making this important choice.A patient decision aid (PtDA) was developed using the...