Preoperative Echocardiography findings:
A normal left ventricular ejection fraction (≥ 50%) was observed in 71,9% of patients in MVRe and 79,7% in MVRp (p=0.43). 31 (24.21%) patients underwent surgery with an impaired left ventricular function with a LVEF calculated at under 50%. A left atrial diameter ≤ 50 mm was observed in 64.1% in MVRe and 56.3% in MVRp (p=0.37). A left ventricular end-diastolic diameter ≤ 65mm was observed in 89.1% of MVRe and 95.3% of MVRp (p=0.19).
The Carpentier classification (Cc) was used in this study to identify MV pathology. In our study, 26 of 128 (20.3%) patients had a Cc type I. Of these, 20 underwent repair and six underwent replacement (31.3% vs. 9.4% respectively, p=0.002). Of the 67 (52.3%) patients who were admitted with Cc type II, 39 underwent repair versus 28 who underwent replacement (60.9% vs. 43.6% respectively, p=0.05). Of the 28 (21.9%) patients who presented with Cc type IIIa, two underwent repair and 26 underwent replacement (3.1% vs. 40.6%, p<0.001). Of the seven (5.5%) patients admitted with functional MVR (Cc type IIIb), three underwent repair and four underwent replacement (4.7% vs. 6.3% respectively, p=1.0).