Introduction: With the increasing trend of percutaneous treatment of mitral regurgitation (MR), defining the standard of care becomes crucial. The optimal treatment of degenerative MR has to provide excellent immediate and long-term outcomes. With this study we aim to present our results of surgical repair of degenerative MR. Methods: From January 2006 to December 2017, 4195 patients (median age 57 years [IQR 46;67], 68.9% men) underwent mitral valve repair (MVr) for degenerative MR at our Institution. The outcomes were retrieved using a deterministic record linkage with the National Health System, the National Tax Register and the clinical database. The follow-up was 100% complete. A Cox regression model was used to identify factors influencing outcomes. Kaplan-Meier estimates were used to assess survival. Competing risk analysis (CIF) with death as competing risk was used to assess the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events and mitral valve (MV) reoperation. Results: The median EF was 60% [IQR 60;65], 17.8% of patients were in atrial fibrillation and 11.6% were in NYHA ≥3. Prolapse was posterior in 70.7%, bileaflet in 20.7%, and anterior in 8.5%. A resection technique was the most used approach (60.3%), followed by edge-to-edge (26.8%) and chordal implantation (9.2%). Thirty-day mortality was 0.5% (0.24% in isolated MVr cohort). At 13 years, overall survival was 86±13% (isolated MVr 90±10% vs non-isolated MVr 78±22% p <0.0001). At multivariate analysis male sex, age, cancer, previous admission for CHF, NYHA class ≥3, complex surgery, CPB time, MR >1+ at discharge and in-hospital stay were predictors of long-term mortality. At 13 years, CIF of rehospitalization for heart failure was 5.7±0.35% and CIF of MV reoperation was 1.9±0.2%. At multivariate analysis age, prolapse of the anterior leaflet and need of second pump run independently predicted reoperation. Conclusions: Surgical MVr can be performed with very low in-hospital mortality and excellent long-term survival in high-volume centers. At 13-years, in our series the rate of rehospitalization for heart failure was very low and MV reoperation was rare. These results can be used as surgical benchmark for percutaneous treatment of degenerative MR.
Read full abstract