A Patient with Werner’s Syndrome Who Underwent Aortic Valve Replacement through Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery

Abstract

Werner’s syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder presenting with premature senility. In the present study, we performed minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS)-aortic valve replacement (AVR) on a patient with Werner’s syndrome who presented with aortic stenosis. The patient, a 49-year-old Japanese man, was brought to the emergency room with dyspnea during exercise. On echocardiography, severe aortic stenosis was found and surgery was planned. He had poorly controlled diabetes mellitus and underwent MICS-AVR to avoid the risk of sternal osteomyelitis, which resulted in a good outcome. The aortic valve had sclerotic changes and a genetic disease was suspected based on the onset of aortic stenosis at a young age, characteristic appearance, and various signs of aging. Genetic testing led to the diagnosis of WS.