Anuloplastia de De Vega. Cincuenta años desde el comienzo de la reparación valvular selectiva, regulable y permanente

Abstract

De Vega annuloplasty consists of a double suture supported by Teflon patches at its ends and tied in such a way as to correct regurgitation in the tricuspid valve. After 50 years since its publication, its historical background, the original technique and the successive modifications that have emerged under the same pathophysiological concept are reviewed. De Vega annuloplasty has been used extensively throughout the world to correct tricuspid insufficiency, especially secondary functional regurgitation concomitantly with mitral valve surgery. It has also been used in traumatic injuries, heart transplantation or the child population. Compared with annuloplasty with a rigid or semirigid ring, it seems to confer less stability over time, without this having translated into an increase in morbidity and mortality or in the rate of reinterventions. It is a fast, simple, reproducible, economical, safe technique that offers excellent clinical results in selected patients, and that after 50 years is still valid, especially as a treatment for non-severe functional tricuspid regurgitation in the context of left valve surgery without significant dilatation of the right ventricle.