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The consideration for treatment of mitral regurgitation is dependent on its underlying cause: degenerative or functional. The percutaneous MitraClip treatment is mostly suitable for patients with severe, symptomatic mitral regurgitation and additional risk factors, who therefore do not qualify for surgical treatment but still have a life expectancy of more than one year. The MitraClip treatment has undergone technical improvements in the past ten years and has a low rate of periprocedural and postprocedural complications. Patients with severe functional mitral regurgitation, a relatively preserved left ventricular function, and a limited left ventricular volume benefit most from a MitraClip treatment. The number of MitraClip procedures in the Netherlands is strongly increasing and has shown good results. Besides the development of the MitraClip and introduction of new devices, careful patient selection is the most important instrument to achieve better results.

Dziadzko et al. describe the poor prognosis and low performance of surgery (15%) in a large cohort of patients with isolated moderate to severe mitral regurgitation (MR). They report a prevalence of moderate-severe MR 'in the community'. This is misleading as these patients were referred for echocardiography. Second, the authors stated there was 'important undertreatment' of MR as only 15% underwent surgery. Moderate MR was present in 70% and according to the 2006 guidelines, surgery for moderate MR is a class III recommendation. Finally, the authors report that few patients received 'the only treatment available (surgery)' and call for action. However, from the beginning of this century, treatment options have been extended by means of cardiac resynchronization therapy and the Mitraclip procedure. As nowadays these options account for up to 10% of non-pharmacological interventions of the mitral valve, not considering these modalities in the paper limits its value.

Objective: Identification of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) who were lost to cardiological follow-up., Design: Cross-sectional study., Method: Adults with CHD and not under cardiological follow-up were asked via a nationwide publicity campaign to contact the CONCOR (CONgenital CORvitia) project group., Results: A total of 593 patients with mild (85%) to moderate-severe (15%) CHD were registered via the nationwide campaign. Of these patients, 66% were examined within 1 year by a cardiologist. Additional cardiac follow-up was necessary within 1 year in 22% of these patients. In 16% of the patients, new residual lesions were found; and in three of these patients the pulmonary valve required replacement., Conclusion: During this comprehensive nationwide campaign it became clear that a considerable number of adults with CDH fail to receive regular cardiac care. However, after surgical correction of CHD in childhood, residual lesions are common in this population. Threatening residual lesions can be present asymptomatically. Cardiological follow-up is therefore almost always necessary, also in patients without symptoms. Patients with CHD as well as their medical care personnel need to be well informed of this.