Concomitant Tricuspid Annuloplasty in Mitral Valve Surgery for
Degenerative and Rheumatic Valve Diseases: Balancing the Benefits.
Abstract
The article published in this edition of Journal of Cardiac
Surgery, Arafat and colleagues discuss the results of their ten year
clinical experience of concomitant tricuspid annuloplasty (TA) for
moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) during mitral valve
surgery in patients with rheumatic (RMVD - n= 345; 61% had mitral
regurgitation and 39% mitral valve stenosis) and degenerative (DMVD n=
135) mitral valve diseases, The objective of the observational
non-randomized trial was to identify predictors of durability of TA for
moderate to severe TR in patients with RMVD and DMVD undergoing mitral
valve repairs and replacements. Valve repair was feasible in 12% in the
RMVD group as compared to 52% in DMVD group (1). The TA was performed
with flexible, rigid prostheses and the de Vega suture technique.