Effects of valve repair on long-term patient outcomes after mitral valve surgery

Abstract

Over the past decade, techniques for mitral valve repair have expanded considerably, so that most mitral pathologies now can be repaired routinely. A question still exists, however, whether patients would benefit from more liberal application of repair, and if so, in what disease categories and clinical situations. One way to address this problem, or at least to gain insights, would be to review experiences with previous patient cohorts. Faced with this question 5 years ago, the authors began a systematic analysis of mitral surgery patients receiving care at Duke University over the past 20 years. Because all surgical patients had been entered into a prospective databank over that time, the opportunity existed to examine long-term outcomes, using multivariable analysis methodology. The purpose of this paper is to review those studies, with the goal of summarizing the benefits of mitral valve repair on patient outcomes observed in our clinical experience.