Postoperative left ventricular function in patients with mitral stenosis. The effect of commissurotomy and valve replacement on left ventricular systolic function.

Preoperative and postoperative left ventricular cineangiograms of 26 patients with mitral stenosis (MS) were analyzed to calculate left ventricular end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF) and systolic regional wall motion. Nine patients underwent commissurotomy (OMC group) and 17 patients underwent mitral valve replacement (MVR group). In both groups, postoperative EDV, SV and EF tended to increase, while ESV remained unchanged. In the OMC group, systolic wall motion of the left ventricle was found to be improved postoperatively, whereas systolic wall motion in the MVR group was found to be impaired postoperatively. The latter finding was assumed to be due to excision of the papillary muscles and chordae tendineae. Preservation of these structures is likely to be important for better postoperative functional recovery of the left ventricle.