Timing of surgery in patients with chronic, severe mitral regurgitation

Patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR) who are managed conservatively sustain excess mortality and morbidity. With improved mortality and morbidity rates being achieved with surgical management, cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are becoming more aggressive in treating patients with severe MR with surgery. Recent data indicate that even in the absence of symptoms or left ventricular dysfunction, surgery should be offered as a treatment for MR, provided that the regurgitation is severe, the valve seems to be repairable, and the surgeon is experienced in valve repair and is aided by intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography.