Impact of Different Annuloplasty Methods for Tricuspid Regurgitation: A Network Meta-Analysis

Although moderate to severe tricuspid valve regurgitation (TR) is an independent risk factor for progressive heart failure and increased mortality, the best method for tricuspid valve repair remains controversial. Therefore, this study conducted a network meta-analysis to compare early and late outcomes for suture, flexible band, and rigid ring as tricuspid annuloplasty (TAP) in patients with TR.

Medline and EMBASE were searched through February 15, 2020 to identify randomized controlled trials and observational trials that investigated early and late outcomes after TAP for TR. The outcomes of interest were perioperative mortality, all-cause mortality, and TR recurrence with more than 1-year follow-up. TR recurrence was defined as at least moderate (TR grade 2) on serial echocardiograms.

Two randomized controlled trials and 15 observational trials were identified, including 6138 patients who underwent TAP. The median follow-up period was 1 to 7.4 years. There were no significant differences of perioperative and all-cause mortality among 3 TAP methods. Rigid ring TAP was associated with a significant reduction in TR recurrence compared with suture TAP (hazard ratio, 0.42; 95% confidence interval, 0.23 to 0.78; P = .005). There were no significant differences in TR recurrence were observed between flexible band and suture TAP or flexible band and rigid ring TAP.

This network meta-analysis demonstrated significant reduction in TR recurrence for rigid ring TAP compared with suture TAP, although no significant differences were observed between suture and flexible band TAP or between flexible band and rigid ring TAP. There were no significant mortality differences among suture, flexible band, and rigid ring TAP procedures.