Effect of aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis on severity of mitral regurgitation.
BACKGROUND
Surgically addressing moderate mitral regurgitation (MR) at the time of aortic valve replacement (AVR) for aortic stenosis remains uncertain. The purpose of this study was to examine the change in moderate (2+) or moderate-severe (3+) MR after isolated AVR for aortic stenosis to determine preoperative factors predictive of improvement in MR.


METHODS
Using an institutional databank of prospectively collected data, all patients undergoing isolated AVR for aortic stenosis with moderate (2+) to moderate-severe (3+) MR between 1994 and 1996 at the Montreal Heart Institute were evaluated.


RESULTS
Eighty patients with preoperative and postoperative transthoracic echocardiographic follow-up were identified. Preoperative MR was moderate (2+) in 78 patients (97.5%) and moderate-severe (3+) in 2 patients (2.5%). Mitral regurgitation was classified as rheumatic (32%), ischemic (32%), functional (21%), and myxomatous (15%). At 1-year follow-up transthoracic echocardiography, MR improved by 1 or 2 grades in 29 patients (35%), was unchanged in 44 (55%), and worsened in 7 (10%). On multivariate analysis, isolated ischemic and functional MR were the only preoperative factors predictive of MR improvement after AVR (p = 0.01): 54% of ischemic and 44% of functional MR patients showed improvement in MR after AVR compared with 23% of rheumatic and 17% of myxomatous MR patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Etiology of MR was a significant prognostic factor for improvement in MR grade. Since there was little improvement in the rheumatoid and myxomatous group, replacement or repair should strongly be considered. For functional and ischemic mitral regurgitation, a surgical correction should be performed on an individual basis.
Vanden Eynden
Frédéric
F
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.
Bouchard
Denis
D
El-Hamamsy
Ismaïl
I
Butnaru
Ady
A
Demers
Philippe
P
Carrier
Michel
M
Perrault
Louis P
LP
Tardif
Jean-Claude
JC
Pellerin
Michel
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006334:Heart Function Tests; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome