[Function of the right ventricle in mitral valve defects before and after surgical correction]

To ascertain whether surgical correction of mitral valve lesions can lead to postoperative improvement of right ventricular function, investigations were carried out in 17 patients with mitral valve disease, clinical severity grade III and IV, before and at an average of 18 months postoperatively. Six subjects without heart disease served as controls. Preoperatively, all patients underwent catheterization and cineangiographic evaluation of both the right and left ventricles. The right ventricular ejection fraction (RV-EF) was also determined from the radionuclide ventriculogram before and after the surgical intervention (closed mitral commissurotomy in five patients and mitral valve replacement in twelve). The patients were studied at rest and during bicycle ergometry in the supine position. As compared with control subjects, before surgery at rest, patients with mitral valve disease had significantly higher values for mean left atrial pressure (22 +/- 7 vs 8 +/- 2 mm Hg), mean pulmonary artery pressure (39 +/- 17 vs 17 +/- 5 mmHg), pulmonary arteriolar resistance (361 +/- 260, increased 5-fold, vs 69 +/- 27 dyn . s . cm-5) and right ventricular systolic pressure (55 +/- 20 vs 24 +/- 6 mmHg) while the values for right ventricular end-diastolic pressure, mean right atrial pressure, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and left ventricular systolic pressure did not differ (Table 1).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)