Transcatheter aortic valve implantation is increasingly presented as an alternative to aortic valve replacement in the high risk surgical candidate. We review the outcomes of isolated aortic valve replacement to identify contemporary results of aortic valve replacement in such high risk patients.Retrospective analysis of 846 patients (mean age 68.7 ± 11.8 years) who underwent aortic valve replacement in a single institution from 1999 to 2008. We considered 10 risk factors as follows: female gender (395 patients, 46.7%), age, left ventricular ejection fraction, New York Heart Association Class, preoperative creatinine clearance, body mass index, peripheral vascular disease (49 patients, 5%), cerebrovascular disease (42 patients, 4.9%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (87 patients,10.2%), and redo surgery (53 patients, 6.2%).Twenty-five patients died (2.9%). Age (P=0.032; OR 1.07 per each year increase) was the only significant independent predictor of mortality. Length of stay in the hospital was correlated with age (P0.0001), New York Heart Association Class (P0.0001) creatinine clearance (P=0.005) and redo surgery (P=0.006).Contemporary aortic valve replacement is a low risk procedure for most patients. Historical risk factors which have been used to define high risk and inoperability, such as pulmonary disease, reoperations, decreased left ventricular ejection fraction and vascular disease, may not be relevant in the current era. This observation should be considered if such criteria are used to define patients for transcatheter aortic valve implantation.