Late dehiscence of a mitral annuloplasty band in an asymptomatic patient: the value of follow-up with echocardiography.

A 49-year-old male had mitral annuloplasty with a Cosgrove– Edwards band. Twelve months later he was asymptomatic, but transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiograms showed dehiscence of the annuloplasty band. He underwent an uneventful mitral valve replacement. This case demonstrates the value of long-term echocardiographical follow-up of cardiac valvular prostheses irrespective of the patient’s symptomatic status (Fig. 1). European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery 25 (2004) 642 www.elsevier.com/locate/ejcts