"Ross mitral " procedure for massive congenital mitral insufficiency

The authors report the case of a 4 month old North African baby with massiv e congenital mitral insufficiency associated with a coarctation of the aort a. The surgical treatment consisted in correction of the coarctation follow ed, several days later, by a Ross mitral procedure after failure of mitral reconstructive surgery. The postoperative course required circulatory assis tance for 4 days and the child returned to his family two months after surg ery. Control echocardiography before hospital discharge showed good functio n of the pulmonary autograft in the mitral position with no regurgitation b ut slight stenosis with a mean transvalvular pressure gradient of 4 mmHg. This procedure may be used in certain cases as an alternative to mitral val ve replacement.