OBJECTIVE To evaluate the immunological profile and gene expression of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in mitral valves of patients with rheumatic fever originated from a reference service in cardiovascular surgery. METHODS This was a quantitative, observational and cross-sectional study. Thirty-five subjects (divided into four groups) participated in the study, 25 patients with chronic rheumatic heart d...

Mitral stenosis due to rheumatic heart disease is not common in the United States but is common in the developing world because rheumatic fever is still occurring frequently. Symptoms usually gradually occur in the young adult (most commonly female). Atrial fibrillation is a common accompanying rhythm in patients with proven mitral stenosis. The main physiologic event is a pressure gradient bet...

Bacillus cereus is a rare cause of endocarditis, typically associated with intravenous drug abuse, rheumatic heart disease, prosthetic heart valves, pacemakers, or immunodeficiency. We present the first case of native valve Bacillus cereus endocarditis with no apparent risk factors. The patient had a fulminant course requiring emergent valve replacement.

Although the use of mitral valve surgery has been successful at alleviating mitral valve disease, published studies on either replacement or repair have yielded mixed clinical outcomes regarding differences between repair and replacement. Meta-analysis of various outcomes from 29 published studies was conducted. Studies were separated into four groups by etiology of disease: ischemic; degenerat...

Surgical treatment of a rheumatic valvular lesion may exaggerate the physical signs or lead to the recognition for the first time of another valvular lesion. This is seen in combined lesions of the aortic and mitral valves and less frequently of the mitral and tricuspid valve. Tricuspid stenosis (Pantridge and Marshall, 1957) and tricuspid incompetence (Mounsey, 1959) have been revealed after m...

INTRODUCTION Current guidelines state that patients with severe mitral regurgitation should be treated in reference centers with a high reparability rate, low mortality rate, and durable results. OBJECTIVE To analyze our global experience with the treatment of organic mitral regurgitation from various etiologies operated in a single center. METHODS We evaluated all surgically treated patien...

OBJECTIVES With the expanding uptake of mitral valve repair as the primary therapy for mitral valve regurgitation, an increasing cohort of patients are presenting with failures following valve repair. These patients have traditionally been treated by mitral valve replacement. We have adopted an aggressive strategy of valve re-repair for failures of mitral valve repair and present our mid-term r...

ObjectivesAtrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. Drug treatment of AF usually leads to an unsatisfactory rate of recurrence. The Cox-maze III procedure for atrial fibrillation has been effective in restoring sinus rhythm in patients with mitral valve disease. MethodsFrom September 2000 to September 2002, 10 consecutive patients with rheumatic mitral valve dise...

OBJECTIVE To describe the experience with the technique of posterior leaflet extension in children suffering of rheumatic mitral regurgitation. METHODS Between April 2002, and October 2007, 30 children, mean age 11.3 years, underwent correction of mitral insufficiency with the technique of posterior leaflet extension with a pericardial patch. Eight also received a Carpentier ring. Six childre...