[Preoperative assessment of tricuspid valve disease]

The illness to the tricuspid valve from a rheumatic origin, requires an adequate study during the preoperative time. The measurement to the tricuspid valve ring, which is determined by an echocardiography demonstrating a dilation from above 30 mm, has to be considered as an organic disease and not as a functional one. This means that this dilation must be surgically treated with anuloplasty or a valve substitution, otherwise the possibilities of a residual tricuspid regurgitation are very high. It is also important to perform a transjugular liver biopsy in those cases where a moderated or severe tricuspid regurgitation is present, allowing to detect those patients who have a severe hepatic malfunction (coagulophaty) and backing them up during and after the surgical procedure.