title: Long-term follow-up of patients undergoing closed transventricular mitral commissurotomy: a useful surrogate for percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine the long-term outcome and multivariate predictors of late events in patients who underwent transventricular mitral commissurotomy at the Mayo Clinic in the early 1960s.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty is an important new procedure for which long-term follow-up data are not yet available. However, such data do exist for patients who have undergone transventricular mitral commissurotomy, a similar but older and more invasive procedure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Follow-up data (mean duration 13.9 years) for 207 women and 60 men who underwent transventricular mitral commissurotomy were obtained from medical records, referring physicians, questionnaires and telephone interviews. Survival and survival free of repeat commissurotomy or mitral valve surgery were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine predictors of survival and repeat mitral valve surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Postoperatively, 92% of patients had symptomatic improvement, which was sustained for at least 3 to 4 years in 78%. At 10, 15 and 20 years postoperatively, 79%, 67% and 55%, respectively, of patients were alive and 57%, 36% and 24%, respectively, were alive and free of repeat mitral valve surgery. At 10 years, 90% of all patients were free of transient or fixed cerebrovascular events. In multivariate analyses, atrial fibrillation, age and male gender were independently associated with death, whereas mitral valve calcification, cardiomegaly and mitral regurgitation independently predicted repeat mitral valve surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Long-term results after transventricular mitral commissurotomy are excellent in selected patients with symptomatic mitral stenosis. Because of similarities in patient selection and mechanisms of mitral valve dilation, similar favorable long-term outcomes may be expected after percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905.
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Rihal
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Schaff
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Frye
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Hammes
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Holmes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002404:Catheterization; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000601:surgery*; D008946:Mitral Valve Stenosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012086:Reoperation; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome