About the Registry

Fourteen years of procedure data collection. The International Registry for the Ross Procedure was established and began collecting data in 1993, following the First Annual Ross Colloquium held during the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons in Chicago.

Team. The Registry is directed by James H. Oury, MD, from the Mount Rushmore Heart Institute in Rapid City, South Dakota. Registry Coordinator Tina Salley supervises the participation of the Registry's roster of physicians and the transfer and dissemination of their data.

Credits. The construction of this site was sponsored by a grant from LifeNet, Inc. The site and database are built and hosted by Pyron Technologies of Missoula, Montana.

Purpose. Although Mr. Ross' results up to the time of the Registry's founding suggested that the pulmonary autograft procedure might be a lifelong solution to aortic valve disease that requires valve replacement, it nevertheless seemed appropriate to make a collaborative effort to establish a multi-center, long term follow-up study to examine longitudinal clinical outcomes associated with the procedure, as well as to attempt to identify and resolve the many technical considerations necessary for successful execution of the procedure. It was with these issues in mind that the Ross Registry was established.

Therefore the purpose of the Registry is three-fold:

1. To identify all cardiac surgeons in the world that currently perform the procedure;
2. To investigate and report the technical operative details associated with the procedure as they evolve; and
3. To register all Ross procedures performed worldwide, both retrospectively and prospectively, and follow these long-term patient outcomes over time.

Design: forms and reports. The Ross Registry is simple in design. Participation requires the completion of two one-page data collection forms.

1. The Initial Form tracks patient demographics, medical history, and technical operative considerations of the procedure, and is completed at the time of surgery.
2. The Follow-up Form is completed six months post-operatively, and annually thereafter, in order to capture long-term patient outcomes in terms of reoperation, autograft failure, and mortality.

Composite data from the Ross Registry is compiled in an International Summary Report, which is shared through this site with all surgeons participating in the Registry. In addition, each participating surgeon receives an individual report outlining the data from his or her personal series. This allows comparison with the International Summary Report and identification of trends within each physician patient series. At present the International Registry of the Ross Procedure identifies a large proportion of surgeons world-wide that perform the procedure.