Long-term results after De Vega's tricuspid annuloplasty.
BACKGROUND
Although some surgeons prefer to use artificial valve rings for tricuspid valve annuloplasty, we have mainly performed De Vega's tricuspid annuloplasty for functional tricuspid regurgitation, because it is a simple and effective technique for reducing tricuspid regurgitation due to annular dilatation. We evaluated long-term results of the De Vega's tricuspid annuloplasty up to 19 postoperative years.


METHODS
Between January 1980 and June 1999, 408 patients underwent De Vega's tricuspid annuloplasty. Long-term results after De Vega's tricuspid annuloplasty were analyzed.


RESULTS
There were 14 (3.4%) early deaths within 30 postoperative days. There were 63 (15.4%) late deaths during the follow-up period. The actuarial survival rate at 15 years after operation was 74.0%, the 15-year freedom from re-operation was 91.6%, and the 15-year freedom from all events was 58.7%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that De Vega's tricuspid annuloplasty was an effective and reliable procedure of choice for secondary tricuspid regurgitation with annular dilatation.
Morishita
A
A
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The Heart Institute of Japan, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Fukuyama-shi, Tokyo, Japan. atsumori@gol.com
Kitamura
M
M
Noji
S
S
Aomi
S
S
Endo
M
M
Koyanagi
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014262:Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*