Management of Organic Mitral Regurgitation: Guideline Recommendations and Controversies

Mitral regurgitation (MR) represents the second most frequent valvular heart disease. The appropriate management of organic MR remains unclear in many aspects, especially in several specific clinical scenarios. This review aims to discuss the current guideline recommendations regarding the management of organic MR, while highlighting the controversial aspects encountered in daily clinical practice. The role of imaging is essential in establishing the most appropriate type of surgical treatment (repair or replace), which is based on morphological mitral valve (MV) characteristics (reparability of the valve) and local surgical expertise in valve repair. The potential advantages of 3-dimensional echocardiography in assessing the MV are discussed. Other modern imaging techniques (tissue Doppler and speckle tracking) may provide additional useful information in borderline cases. Exercise echocardiography (evaluating MR severity, pulmonary pressure, or right ventricular function) may have an important role in the management of difficult cases. Finally, the moment when surgery is no longer an option and alternative solutions should be sought is also discussed. Although in everyday clinical practice the timing of surgery is not always straightforward, some newer clinical and echocardiographic indicators can guide this decision and help improve the outcome of these patients.

The mid term results of mitral valve repair in 132 pediatric patients / 中华胸心血管外科杂志

Objective To review the surgical methods and mid-term results of mitral valve repair in pediatric patients with moderate to severe mitral regurgitation (MR).Methods 132 children with moderate to severe MR,aged (18.9 ± 7.2)months,weighted(11.3 ±4.8) kg.The etiology for mitral regurgitation is congenital heart disease in 126 cases,infective endocarditis in 5 cases and Marfan syndrome in 1 case.Mitral valvuloplasty(MVP) was performed with cardiopulmonary bypass under moderate systemic hypothermia.The methods of MVP included annuloplasty,annuloplasty ring,cleft closure,reconstruction of posterior leaflet.The coucomitant cardiac anomalies were treated at the same time.The results of repair were evaluated by saline injection test and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during operation.Results Intra-operative TEE results: 131 cases had none to mild MR,and only one case had moderate MR.The patient underwent second repair immediately,subsequent TEE was mild.Mean cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time was (80.0 ± 31.1) minutes.Mean aortic clump time was (48.0 ± 17.9) minutes.The in-hospital mortality was 2.3％ (3 cases died).One died of heart failure on postoperative day 7,the other died of low cardiac output syndrome resulting on postoperative day 2.Another one was large ventricular septal defect(VSD) with pulmonary hypertension (PH),died of pulmonary infection.Mean postoperative ventilation time was (34.4 ± 31.9) hours,and mean postoperative inhosptial time was (9.0 ± 5.4) days.The average follow-up period was (40.5 ± 8.3) months (2 to 74 months).122 cases were fully followed up.Echocardiography showed that moderate MR was in 7 patients,and 3 patients had severe MR.4 patients underwent re-do mitral valve repair or mitral valve replacement.There was no late death.The overall survival rate at 5 years was 97.7％ and the overall freedom from reoperation at 5 years was 92.0％.Conclusion Pediatric patients with moderate to severe MR need early surgical treatment,the early and mid-term results were satisfactory.Individualized treatment protocol based on specific pathology was the keypoint of surgical therapy.

Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiographic assessment of the mitral valve repair.

The use of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in assessment of the mitral valve repair is well established. It has significantly contributed to the excellent results of mitral valvuloplasty in the current era. This article reviews various two-dimensional echocardiographic planes to assess the mitral valve apparatus, mechanisms of mitral regurgitation, different surgical techniques of repair, complications, and their recognition using TEE.

Early Changes of Left Ventricular Geometry and Function after Surgical Ventricular Restoration and Mitral Valve Annuloplasty: Magnetic Resonance Imaging

PURPOSE: We sought to determine the early change of ventricular geometry and function after concomitant surgeries of modified Dor procedure and mitral valve annuloplasty by using magnetic resonance imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We enrolled 21 patients with dilated heart failure who underwent modified Dor procedure (n=8), mitral valve annuloplasty (n=6), or both surgeries (n=7). Cine MRI was used to assess left ventricular dimensions and function before and after surgery. We measured the left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and the dimensions of the left ventricular long-axis and short-axis. Left ventricular stroke volume, ejection fraction, and sphericity index were calculated from these measurements. These parameters were analyzed and compared between three different surgery groups to explain the combined effect of the concomitant surgeries. RESULTS: MRI was performed within average 12 +/- 15 days (range 1-58 days) before and 38 +/- 50 days (range 7- 231 days) after the surgery. The patients who underwent concomitant surgeries had more profound enlargement of left ventricle and decreased contractility prior to surgery than those in the patients who underwent single surgical procedure. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume and endsystolic volume significantly decreased in all patients regardless of surgery type after surgery. Ejection fraction significantly increased only in the patients who got modified Dor procedure without mitral valve annuloplasty (25.4% to 40.7%). Sphericity index increased in patients with modified Dor procedure but decreased in patients with mitral valve annuloplasty (0.65 to 0.78 vs. 0.75 to 0.65). In the patients who underwent concomitant surgeries showed no significant change in sphericity index after surgery. CONCLUSION: The early change of the left ventricular geometry and function after the concomitant surgeries with modified Dor procedure and mitral valve annuloplasty in patients with dilated heart failure includes a marked reduction in left ventricular volume and in stroke volume. The shape of the left ventricle does not change because the effect of sphericity index decrease from mitral valve annuloplasty is counteracted by the effect of sphericity index increase from modified Dor procedure. Improvement of left ventricular ejection fraction is not the early change after the concomitant surgeries.