BACKGROUND We evaluated the midterm outcomes of lifting posterior mitral annuloplasty for enhancing leaflet coaptation in mitral valve repair. METHODS Between October 2007 and December 2012, 341 consecutive patients with significant mitral regurgitation underwent lifting posterior mitral annuloplasty using a specially designed fabric annuloplasty strip that lifts the middle portion of the pos...

BACKGROUND Application of annuloplasty rings during mitral valve (MV) repair has been shown to significantly change the mitral annular geometry. Until recently, a comprehensive two-dimensional echocardiographic evaluation of annular geometric changes was difficult owing to its nonplanar orientation. In this study, an analysis of the three-dimensional intraoperative transesophageal echocardiogra...

The surgical strategy in infants with mitral valve stenosis or atresia without diminutive ascending aorta remains to be established, including the potential for biventricular repair as a definitive operation. Our surgical experience of six infants with mitral valve stenosis (4 patients) or atresia (2 patients) without diminutive ascending aorta was evaluated based on three important factors: le...

Chronic mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most common cardiac valvular disease with more than 4 million people in the United States alone suffering from moderate or severe MR. Left untreated, chronic MR results in serious consequences. Surgical correction with mitral valve repair or replacement remains the mainstay of therapy for MR. Nevertheless, a large proportion of patients may not be offere...

OBJECTIVES This study was undertaken to determine the results of repair of partial atrioventricular (AV) canal in patients > or = 40 years old. BACKGROUND Although postoperative outcomes in younger patients have been well documented, the fate of older patients with repaired partial AV canal is less clear. METHODS From 1958 to 1990, 31 patients 40 to 71 years old (mean age 51) had repair of ...

In this issue of JASE, Magne et al continue their previous work using echocardiography to analyze outcomes of mitral valve repair for ischemic mitral regurgitation, demonstrating that continued adverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling may not be a prerequisite for recurrent mitral valve regurgitation in patients who had undergone initially successful repairs. They observed a group of 26 patient...

OBJECTIVE To report the first 100 mitral valve repairs performed in a unit with an aggressive approach to conservative mitral valve surgery. DESIGN Case notes were reviewed retrospectively and patients invited for clinical examination and cross sectional and Doppler echocardiography. SETTING Tertiary cardiothoracic referral centre. PATIENTS Between December 1985 and April 1991 mitral valv...

Sex differences in outcomes have been noted in many areas of cardiovascular medicine. In mitral valve surgery, this topic is particularly important because in appropriately selected patients, mitral valve repair restores normal life expectancy, which cannot be said for other cardiac surgical operations. Current literature is replete with evidence supporting continued sex inequality in the detec...

Functional ischemic mitral regurgitation is a complex disorder with a poor prognosis. Although the underlying anatomical and pathophysiological mechanisms are not entirely clear, it is known that postinfarction left ventricular remodeling is the most significant factor in the development of this mitral valve lesion. Echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging have made significant contribut...

Two cases are described in which severe mechanical haemolytic anaemia developed shortly after operation for repair of non-rheumatic mitral regurgitation. One patient had a "floppy" valve and the other cleft mitral leaflets, and both had chordal rupture. In both there was residual regurgitation after repair though in one this was initially only trivial. Clinically manifest haemolysis ceased afte...