MITRAL-VALVE REPLACEMENT AND TRICUSPID-VALVE REPAIR AFTER CARDIAC TRANSPLANTATION

Efforts aimed at limiting the pool of cardiac retransplantation candid ates have focused increasingly on attempts to preserve cardiac allogra ft function. The present report reviews the course of a patient who un derwent mitral valve replacement and tricuspid annuloplasty for bivalv ular incompetence after cardiac transplantation and examines the limit ed reported world experience with valve replacement after transplantat ion. The limited yet successful experiences with these and other opera tions in cardiac allograft recipients suggest that worsening donor org an shortages will likely lead to increased clinical experience with co nventional operations in the transplanted heart. (C) 1997 by The Socie ty of Thoracic Surgeons.