Long-term follow-up after Carpentier-Edwards ring annuloplasty for tricuspid regurgitation.
BACKGROUND
Use of flexible rings for tricuspid ring annuloplasty is becoming popular. This study was undertaken to evaluate Carpentier-Edwards (C-E) rigid ring annuloplasty for tricuspid regurgitation (TR), secondary to mitral valve disease and clinical outcome on a long-term basis.


METHODS
From December 1985 to March 1996, 45 patients with secondary TR underwent C-E ring annuloplasty. Thirty-nine patients (95.1%) were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III or IV. The mean follow-up was 96.7+/-48.5 months or 362.6 patient-years.


RESULTS
There were three in-hospital and nine late deaths that were not related to tricuspid annuloplasty. Actuarial survival at 10 years was 68.3%. Echocardiographic studies showed that TR was well controlled within grade 2+ in all survivors. Residual pulmonary hypertension (PH) was recognized in 9 of 21 patients (42.9%) with preoperative PH, however, no TR was seen in 6 patients. A TR grade of 2+ was observed in 3 patients. Thirty of the total survivors (96.8%) were in NYHA class I and II, but 1 patient was in NYHA class III. The actuarial rate of freedom from tricuspid valve reoperation after 10 years was 97.5%.


CONCLUSIONS
C-E ring annuloplasty is acceptable for repair of secondary TR and improvement in clinical status on a long-term basis.
Onoda
K
K
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Mie University School of Medicine, Tsu, Japan. k-onoda@clin.medic.mie-u.ac.jp
Yasuda
F
F
Takao
M
M
Shimono
T
T
Tanaka
K
K
Shimpo
H
H
Yada
I
I
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000150:complications; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008943:Mitral Valve; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014262:Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency / Q000601:surgery*