The first four cases of successful NeoChord procedure in mainland China.

BACKGROUND: Transapical off-pump NeoChord procedure is a novel minimally invasive surgical repair of degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR). Here, we report the first four cases of NeoChord procedure in patients with mitral valve prolapse in mainland China. METHODS: Four patients, aged 86, 84, 80 and 60 years, with severe MR due to posterior middle scallop prolapse (P2), underwent transapical off-pump artifi cial chordae implantation on April 9 and 10, 2019. The procedure was performed by left mini-thoracotomy under general anaesthesia and guided by 2D and 3D dimensional transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE). RESULTS: Mitral valve repair via NeoChord procedure was successfully performed with implantation of 3 artifi cial chordae in the fi rst patient and 3, 2, and 3 artifi cial chordae in the following patients, respectively. Intraoperative TEE and pre-discharge transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) showed only mild to moderate MR of these four patients and no postoperative complications were noted. There were no changes of TTE fi nding between one-month follow-up and pre-discharge. CONCLUSION: The successful NeoChord procedures in four Chinese indicate that the valve repair using the NeoChord system for Chinese population is feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]