[Mitral valve plasty. A 12-year material]

46 patients underwent mitral valve repair at the Regional Hospital in Trondheim/St. Elisabeth Heart Clinic, during the period 1983-95. There were 20 female patients. The valve pathology was ischemic in 40%, rheumatic in 10% and other or unknown in 50%. The surgical technique included commissurotomy (n = 9), ring annuloplasty (n = 18), resection of posterior leaflet (n = 12), Kay annuloplasty (n = 10), shortening of chordae (n = 3) and other techniques (n = 2). Postoperative complications included wound infection (n = 1), pneumonia (n = 1), mediastinitis (n = 1), pleural effusion (n = 5), renal failure (n = 1) and multi-organ failure (n = 1). One patient required re-exploration for postoperative bleeding. Three (6.5%) patients died within 30 days of surgery due to low cardiac output (n = 2) and multi-organ failure (n = 1). Nine patients (21%) died later. At follow up, within one year of surgery, marked functional improvement was registered, with only one patient in NYHA class III and none in class IV.