Severe primary mitral regurgitation (MR) has a poor outcome if left uncorrected. Successful mitral valve repair has the unique potential to restore normal life expectancy and is superior to valve replacement. Despite this, mitral repair is performed relatively infrequently and many patients with potentially reparable valves have a replacement instead, subjecting them to unnecessary risk. Surger...

The optimal surgical strategy for the management of ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) is still debated. The purpose of this study was to perform a meta-analysis summarizing the evidence favoring one technique over another (repair vs replacement). A search of the English literature in PubMed was performed using 'ischemic mitral regurgitation' and 'repair or replacement or annuloplasty' in the ...

Rupture of the left ventricle after mitral valve replacement, although infrequent, may be a highly lethal complication. This report describes the early diagnosis and successful repair of rupture of atrioventricular groove in an elderly patient who underwent mitral valve replacement.

Relevant secondary mitral regurgitation occurs in 35– 50% of patients with chronic heart failure and is associated with increased mortality. Surgical management of patients with mitral valve regurgitation and heart failure remains controversial. There are several questions which are not sufficiently clarified because of a lack of prospective randomised controlled trials: (1.) The indication for...

Severe primary mitral regurgitation (MR) has a poor outcome if left uncorrected. Successful mitral valve repair has the unique potential to restore normal life expectancy and is superior to valve replacement. Despite this, mitral repair is performed relatively infrequently and many patients with potentially reparable valves have a replacement instead, subjecting them to unnecessary risk. Surger...

A 32-year-old patient with symptomatic severe aortic regurge, 6 weeks after mitral valve repair, was admitted for aortic valve surgery. No preoperative clinical data consistent with infective endocarditis could be detected. Preoperative transthoracic echocardiography showed aortic leaflet perforation affecting non coronary cusp. During operation, leaflet perforation was detected and closed comp...

While repair of the native valve tissue is recommended in nearly all cases, it is often avoided in lieu of simpler but less effective valve replacement, where native tissue is supplanted with a bioor mechanical prosthetic. This results in significant increases in patient morbidities [1]. There is a strong correlation between repair rate and surgeon experience, with more experienced surgeons sho...

Several techniques are currently in use for mitral valve reconstruction. We report a mitral repair case in which the use of a combination of different surgical techniques resulted in the necessary correction. A 47-year-old woman underwent surgical intervention to treat severe mitral valve insufficiency due to A1/A2/A3 and P2 prolapsed valve tissue. A combination of quadrangular resection, slidi...

The mitral valve is one of the four valves of the human heart. Serving as a passive check valve, a healthy mitral valve permits the flow of oxygenated blood from the left atrium to the left ventricle while preventing backflow. This is accomplished via the mutual collision of the leaflets and the tethering forces of the chordae tendineae (Figure 1). When backflow occurs, the preferred method of ...

boembolic events, seven were TIAs without major sequelae, two patients had permanent deficit and one patient died. Eighty-eight patients remained on long-term anticoagula-tion because of AF. There were six reported haemorrhagic complications, for an actuarial rate of 95.6"1.97% patients free of anticoagulation related haemorrhage at 15 years for the total series and 91% for the 88 patients rece...