MATERIAL AND METHODS
From May 2009 to December 2015, 688 patients undergoing TA for
functional TR at Prince Sultan Cardiac Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
were initially scheduled for this study according to the following
criteria: (i) MV disease requiring surgical intervention; (ii) no
pathologic changes in TV leaflets; (iii) no previous TV repair; (iv) not
associated tricuspid valvuloplasty. Early results of this study have
been already reported6. Twenty-six patients died in
the early postoperative period, so they were excluded from the analysis.
Moreover, 239 patients were lost at follow up because they came from
very far cities or neighboring states of the Arabic peninsula.
Finally 423 patients, where transthoracic echocardiographic evaluation
was performed preoperatively and at follow up, were included into the
study. Retrospective analysis of our database was approved by the
institutional review board, which waived patient consent. In 54 out of
423 (13%) a moderate-or-more TR was recorded at the
discharge5. Hence, we analyzed the long-term results
of two cohorts of patients: 54 with residual TR and 369 without residual
TR, with particular attention to the latter one.
Preoperative characteristics of the study patients are summarized in
Table 1.