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Background: Late tricuspid regurgitation is a common finding in patients with rheumatic valvular disease after mitral valve replacement surgery. However, the long-term benefit of concomitant tricuspid valve annuloplasty has not been established in this population., Methods: This was a single-center retrospective study in a tertiary hospital. The final cohort included 285 rheumatic patients who underwent either isolated mitral valve replacement (147 patients) or mitral valve replacement with concomitant tricuspid valve annuloplasty (138 patients). Tricuspid regurgitation severity grade was assessed according to current echocardiography guidelines and graded using a 0 to 3 scale (none or trivial, mild, moderate, severe)., Results: Patients were followed for a total median duration of 10.8 (interquartile range, 6.8 to 14.5) years. The majority of patients undergoing mitral valve replacement were women, with a median age at operation of 59 (interquartile range, 48 to 68) years. Patients undergoing concomitant tricuspid valve annuloplasty had a 3.4-fold odds of improving their tricuspid regurgitation grade at long-term follow-up by multivariate logistic regression. Furthermore, concomitant tricuspid valve annuloplasty was independently associated with a long-term survival benefit in patients with preoperative moderate or severe tricuspid regurgitation (hazard ratio, 0.44; 95% confidence interval, 0.23 to 0.87; p = 0.018)., Conclusions: This study demonstrates good long-term results in patients with rheumatic heart disease undergoing mitral valve replacement with concomitant tricuspid valve annuloplasty., (Copyright © 2019 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: This study assessed early and late clinical outcomes in patients who underwent aortic valve repair or an aortic valve-sparing operation and investigated predictors for failure., Methods: Of 227 consecutive patients who underwent aortic valve repair or a valve-sparing operation in our department between 2004 and 2016, 81 (36%) underwent aortic root replacement with or without cusp repair, 97 (42%) ascending aorta replacement with or without cusp repair, and 49 (22%) isolated aortic valve repair. Clinical and echocardiographic follow-up was complete., Results: One patient (0.4%) died in-hospital. Mean clinical and echocardiographic follow-up was 69 ± 40 months (range, 1 to 147 months) and 53 ± 40 months (range, 1 to 147 months), respectively. Fifteen patients (6.6%) died during follow-up, with an overall 5-year survival rate of 94.4%. Recurrent significant (≥3) aortic insufficiency developed in 20 patients (8.8%), 17 of whom underwent reoperation, with a 5-year freedom from reoperation rate of 88%. Predictors for recurrent significant aortic insufficiency or reoperation were greater preoperative aortic insufficiency (grade III to IV vs I to II; relative risk [RR], 1.97; p = 0.023), cusp repair (RR, 2.92; p = 0.001), higher European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation score (RR, 1.16; p = 0.006), and valve repair with pericardial patch augmentation (RR, 2.34; p = 0.032)., Conclusions: Aortic valve repair and valve-sparing operations can be performed with good early and late clinical outcomes. In our experience, however, the rate of recurrent aortic insufficiency was significant, especially in patients who underwent cusp augmentation with glutaraldehyde-treated autologous pericardial patch., (Copyright © 2018 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)