title: Long-term results after De Vega's tricuspid annuloplasty.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The Heart Institute of Japan, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Fukuyama-shi, Tokyo, Japan. atsumori@gol.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noji
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aomi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koyanagi
mesh_terms: 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*