The clover technique for the treatment of complex tricuspid valve insufficiency: midterm clinical and echocardiographic results in 66 patients.
OBJECTIVE
This study assesses the results of the 'clover technique' (suturing together the middle point of the free edges of the tricuspid leaflets) for the treatment of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) due to severe prolapse or tethering.


METHODS
From 2001, 66 patients with severe TR due to prolapsing or tethered leaflets underwent 'clover repair'. Annuloplasty was associated in 64 patients (97%). The aetiology of TR was degenerative in 52 cases (79%), post-traumatic in eight (12%) and secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in six (9%). The main mechanism of TR was prolapse/flail of one leaflet in 15 patients (23%), of two leaflets in 31 (47%) and of all three leaflets in 14 (21%). The remaining six patients (9%) presented with severe leaflets' tethering.


RESULTS
Four deaths (6%) occurred during hospitalisation and one patient died 3.6 years after surgery. Survival was 91 + or - 4.1% at 5 years. Follow-up of the 62 hospital survivors was 100% complete (mean length 3.5 + or - 1.6 years, range 13 months-7.1 years). At the last echocardiogram, no or mild TR was detected in 55 (88.7%) patients, moderate (2+/4+) in six (9.6%) and severe (4+/4+) in one patient (1.6%). Mean tricuspid valve area and gradient were 4.3 + or - 0.6 cm(2) and 2.8 + or -1.4 mmHg. In six patients, stress echocardiography was performed and no signs of tricuspid stenosis were detected. At the multivariable analysis, the degree of TR at hospital discharge was identified as the only predictor of TR > or = 2+ at follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Midterm clinical and echocardiographic results confirm the role of the 'clover technique' in the surgical treatment of TR due to lesions, which are unlikely to be effectively treatable by annuloplasty alone.
Lapenna
Elisabetta
E
Department of Cardiac Surgery, San Raffaele University Hospital, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy.
De Bonis
Michele
M
Verzini
Alessandro
A
La Canna
Giovanni
G
Ferrara
David
D
Calabrese
Maria Chiara
MC
Taramasso
Maurizio
M
Alfieri
Ottavio
O
D000368:Aged; D025401:Echocardiography, Stress; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011184:Postoperative Period; D013536:Suture Techniques; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D014262:Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*