Off-pump injectable versus on-pump conventional tissue valves for pulmonary valve replacement: the injectable valve implantation randomised trial (INVITE)

ObjectivesTo assess the effectiveness of injectable tissue pulmonary valve compared with standard pulmonary valve in patients requiring pulmonary valve replacement surgery.DesignA multicentre, single-blind, parallel two-group randomised controlled trial. Participants were blind to their allocation. Follow-up continued for 6 months. Randomised allocations were generated by a computer using block randomisation, stratified by centre.SettingTwo National Health Service secondary care centres in the UK.ParticipantsPeople aged 12–80 years requiring pulmonary valve replacement.InterventionsParticipants were randomly allocated (1:1 ratio) to injectable pulmonary valve replacement (IPVR) without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) or standard pulmonary valve replacement (SPVR) with CPB.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome was chest drainage volume over the first 24 hours after surgery. Secondary outcomes included in-hospital clinical outcomes; valve and heart function 6 months postsurgery and health-related quality of life 6 weeks and 6 months postsurgery.ResultsNineteen participants agreed to take part. Eleven were allocated to IPVR and eight to SPVR. The trial was stopped before the target sample size of 60 participants was reached due to challenges in recruitment. The primary analysis includes all randomised participants; there were no withdrawals. Chest drain volume 24 hours after surgery was on average 277.6 mL lower with IPVR (IPVR mean 340.0 mL; SPVR mean 633.8 mL; mean difference, −277.6; 95% CI, −484.0 to −71.2; p=0.005). There were no statistically significant differences in time to readiness for extubation (p=0.476), time to fitness for discharge (p=0.577) and time to first discharge from the intensive care unit (p=0.209). Six participants with IPVR required CPB. Safety profiles and quality of life scores were similar.ConclusionsIPVR reduced chest drain volume despite >50% of participants requiring CPB. There was no evidence of any other benefit of IPVR.Trial registration numberISRCTN23538073.