title: Gender differences in outcomes following cardiac surgery: implications for managing patients with mitral valve disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review summarizes the differences in clinical outcomes following cardiac surgery according to gender.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women comprise a large proportion of patients presenting with coronary artery or valvular heart disease. Although it is well known that women have poorer survival following bypass surgery compared with men, more recent data confirm that women also have poorer outcomes after heart valve surgery. Women are also more likely to receive mitral valve replacement instead of repair, when compared with men. These divergent outcomes are because of many factors, including valve disease and clinical presentation, which may result in delayed surgical referral in women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Factors that result in poorer outcomes following heart valve surgery, including mitral valve surgery, between men and women remain incompletely understood. These may relate to differences in clinical presentation, valve morphology, and physiology. Further research is needed to clarify differences in heart valve outcomes according to gender.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, University of Ottawa Heart Institute.|Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruel
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, University of Ottawa Heart Institute.|Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chan