[Results of surgery in mitral valve insufficiency with impaired left ventricular function]

This cooperative study (8 French Cardiology Departments) was undertaken to determine the postoperative outcome of patients with pure, chronic, non-ischemic mitral regurgitation and poor left ventricular function (ejection fraction less than 50%). Seventy-three patients, 48 males and 25 females with a mean age of 55.5 +/- 12.1 years were included. Fifty-eight patients were in Class III or IV of the NYHA Classification. The average cardiothoracic ratio was 0.59 +/- 0.07. Forty-six patients were in atrial fibrillation. The average ejection fraction was 43 +/- 5 per cent (end systolic volume: 97.8 +/- 37.9 ml/m2; end diastolic volume: 175.2 +/- 67.6 ml/m2). Sixty-one patients underwent prosthetic mitral valve replacement and 12 had a Carpentier valvuloplasty. Two patients died after the operation and 20 died during follow-up (average 48.1 +/- 27.6 months), giving a 5 year actuarial survival rate of 69.6 per cent. In the long-term, fifteen per cent of patients were in NYHA Class III or IV. A multivariate Cox analysis showed that the only predictive factors of a poor outcome were age and female sex. These results of surgery for mitral regurgitation with moderate to severely altered left ventricular function were relatively good, but this study does not allow evaluation of the evolution of patients with mitral regurgitation and very poor left ventricular function (no patients with ejection fraction less than 25%).