Morphological diversity of the tricuspid posterior leaflet affects
surgical complexity for control of tricuspid regurgitation
Abstract
Abstract Objective: We investigated the effect of morphological
diversity of the tricuspid valve with multiple posterior leaflets on the
technical outcomes of tricuspid valve repair. Methods: From April 2016
to November 2020, 141 patients were diagnosed with secondary tricuspid
regurgitation associated with left heart disease and underwent tricuspid
valve repair. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and
echocardiographic data of patients who underwent both preoperative and
postoperative transthoracic echocardiography. We divided the patients
into two groups according to the surgical technique used to treat
tricuspid regurgitation: ring annuloplasty alone (Group 1, n=109) or
additional approximation of leaflet edges (edge-to-edge repair) with
ring annuloplasty (Group 2, n=32). We measured the morphological
diversity of the tricuspid valve during the operation in all patients.
Results: The preoperative tricuspid regurgitation score was higher in
Group 2 than in Group 1 (2.1±0.78 vs. 1.6±0.7, respectively; p=0.0046),
and Group 2 contained more patients with two posterior leaflets than
Group 1 [20 (63%) vs. 36 (33%), respectively; p=0.003]. The
univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the
presence of two posterior leaflets was an independent risk factor for
additional procedures during tricuspid valve repair (odds ratio, 2.6;
95% confidence interval, 1.1–6.1; p=0.033). Conclusions: Additional
procedures to reduce tricuspid regurgitation were required more
frequently in patients with two posterior leaflets of the tricuspid
valve. The morphological diversity of two posterior leaflets is a
potential risk factor for a more complicated tricuspid repair.