M. Khaja et al., SURGICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SIGNIFICANT ACUTE MITRALREGURGITATION FOLLOWING MITRAL VALVOTOMY, The thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon, 43(5), 1995, pp. 280-283
Repair of the mitral valve should be the primary goal in the surgical
management of acute mitral regurgitation following valvotomy. The earl
ier the repair is done, the better it is because the preoperative haem
odynamics affect the overall outcome. The disadvantages and anticoagul
ation of prosthetic valves are avoided. Besides, it is economical to a
void the high cost of the prosthetic valves in a poor socio-economic g
roup of patients. With good patient selection and additional effort by
the surgeon to acquire the necessary expertise to reproduce the techn
iques of mitral valve repair, a superior quality of life can be offere
d to these patients. The present study is a retrospective analysis of
14 patients who required heart surgery following balloon or closed mit
ral valvotomy. The valve was successfully repaired in 8 patients. The
medium term follow-up indicates that repair is reproducible, safe, rel
iable, and a stable procedure free of complications.