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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2005;130:498-503
© 2005 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery
Surgery for Acquired Cardiovascular Disease |
a Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital Universitario Valdecilla, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
b Division of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
Received for publication November 2, 2004; revisions received December 23, 2004; accepted for publication December 28, 2004. * Address for reprints: José M. Bernal, MD, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital Universitario Valdecilla, E-39008 Santander, Spain (Email: ccabmj{at}humv.es).
| Abstract |
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METHODS: Between 1976 and 2002, 74 patients with a mean age of 53.8 ± 12.2 years underwent valve reoperations for dysfunction of previous tricuspid valve repair. Mitral and tricuspid lesions were diagnosed in 40 patients (54%), triple valve disease (mitral, aortic, tricuspid) was diagnosed in 26 patients (35.1%), isolated tricuspid disease was diagnosed in 6 patients (8.1%), and aortic and tricuspid lesions were diagnosed in 2 patients (2.7%). Reoperations included tricuspid valve replacement in 43 patients (58.1%) and a new tricuspid valve repair procedure in the remaining 31 patients (41.9%).
RESULTS: Hospital mortality (30-day or within first admission) was 35.1% (n = 26). In the multivariate analysis, risk factors for hospital mortality included body mass index less than 20 kg/m2 and greater than 24 kg/m2, triple valve disease, use of intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation, and presence of postoperative complications. The follow-up was complete in 100% of patients, with a mean follow-up of 14.2 years (range 4 months to 26 years). The late mortality was 40.5% (n = 30). Predictors of late mortality were body mass index less than 20 kg/m2, cardiac surgery before 1991, and development of dysfunction early after tricuspid valve repair. At the follow-up closing date, 19 patients are alive (25.7%). The actuarial survival was 11.8% ± 4.9% at 26 years.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients with failure of a tricuspid valve repair procedure requiring reoperation have a poor prognosis with a high mortality rate both in-hospital and in the long-term.
| Introduction |
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| Methods |
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All patients had undergone the operation with extracorporeal circulation, and tricuspid valve operation was performed after surgical treatment of the mitral or aortic valve. Previous valve operations included annuloplasty with a Duran flexible ring in 27 patients (36.5%), De Vegas annuloplasty in 8 patients (10.8%), segmental annuloplasty in 10 patients (13.5%), annuloplasty with a Duran flexible ring and tricuspid commissurotomy in 24 patients (34.5%), and other repair procedures in 5 patients (6.8%). Patients with mitral lesions (n = 74) underwent mitral valve repair (n = 28, 37.8%) or prosthetic valve replacement (n = 46, 62.2%). Patients with aortic lesions (n = 24) underwent aortic valve repair (n = 6, 8.1%) or prosthetic valve replacement (n = 8, 24.3%). The cause was rheumatic heart disease in 66 patients (89.2%) and degenerative disease in 8 patients (10.8%). There were 47 patients (63.5%) with organic tricuspid lesions and 27 patients (36.5%) with functional tricuspid disease. Sixty-four patients had complete arrhythmia caused by atrial fibrillation, and 10 patients were in sinus rhythm.
All patients were investigated preoperatively by means of echocardiography of different modes according to the year of the study, in association with hemodynamic studies in 35 patients (47.3%), particularly in those undergoing operation during the initial years of the study. Tricuspid regurgitation was graded on a scale of 1+ to 4+. Hemodynamic data are given in Table 1.
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Reoperations were performed through a median sternotomy with extracorporeal circulation. Forty-three patients (58.1%) underwent prosthetic tricuspid valve replacement (mechanical prosthesis in 18 and bioprosthesis in 25). Repair of the tricuspid valve was performed in 31 patients. Types of repairs were as follows: flexible ring annuloplasty in 6 patients, a new De Vegas or segmental annuloplasty on a previous suture annuloplasty in 10 patients, resuture of the flexible ring in 7 patients, removal of the flexible ring because of stenosis in 3 patients, Wooler-Reed annuloplasty at the posterior leaflet in 2 patients, closure of the anteroposterior commissurotomy in 1 patient (this patient had a previous commissurotomy), transverse section of a stenotic flexible ring in 1 patient, and suture of the anteroseptal commissure in 1 patient (this patient had a previous commissurotomy).
Follow-up
The follow-up data for this study were procured in a 5-month period (November 2003 to March 2004). The patients were followed through visits in our outpatient clinic (n = 29), direct contact at home (n = 10), or direct contact with their cardiologists (n = 6). When follow-up was not possible, information on vital status (alive or death) was obtained through the Social Security database (n = 4). Follow-up was 100% complete, with a mean follow-up of 14.2 years (range 4 months to 26 years).
Statistical Methods
The Patient Analysis and Tracking System database, version 06.02.03 (Dendrite Clinical System, Inc, Portland, Ore) was used. Values are expressed as mean ± SD. The Student t test was used for the comparison of quantitative variables. Factors influencing intrahospital mortality (ie, death before 30 days after surgery) were analyzed using multiple logistic regression; its results are expressed as odds ratios. Survival curves were obtained by actuarial method. Proportional hazards regression (Cox) was used to study the influence of covariates on mortality and reoperation; we present its results as hazard ratios. Multivariate analysis was performed with the Stata Intercooled, release 6 (Stata Corporation, College Station, Tex) computer program.
| Results |
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Hospital Mortality
The hospital mortality (30-day or within first admission) was 33.8% (25 patients).
Causes of death were cardiac in 64% of cases, infection in 8%, neurologic in 8%, renal failure in 8%, and bleeding in 12%. Univariate analysis identified the grade of tricuspid regurgitation, indication of reoperation, use of balloon counterpulsation, and severe postoperative complications as significant predictors of hospital mortality. The mean grade of tricuspid regurgitation was 3.60 ± 0.63 in deceased patients and 3.36 ± 0.48 in survivors (P = .002). The mortality was 16.7% in patients in whom the reason of reoperation was failure of a bioprosthesis and 42% for all other indications (P = .033). The use of balloon counterpulsation had a significantly higher mortality (73.3% vs 23.7%, P < .005) as well as the presence of severe postoperative complications (45.8% vs 11.1%, P < .005).
With the multiple regression model, body mass index (BMI) less than 20 kg/m2 and greater than 24 kg/m2, triple valve disease, use of intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation, and severe postoperative complications were statistically significant risk factors for hospital mortality (Table 2). The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve was 0.8540.
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Overall Mortality
Overall mortality was 74.3%, with 19 survivors (25.7%). Risk factors for death in patients undergoing tricuspid valve reoperation included operation performed before 1991 (86.7% vs 55.2%, P < .005); use of an intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (100% vs 67.8%, P = .011); early failure of tricuspid valve repair compared with other causes (100% vs 70.3%, P = .047); and severe postoperative complications (85.4% vs 55.6%, P < .005). In the multivariate analysis, risk factors for overall mortality were operation performed before 1991, BMI less than 20 kg/m2, use of balloon counterpulsation, and early failure of valve repair (Table 2). Hospital mortality and late mortality were 41.8% and 39.5%, respectively, for patients undergoing prosthetic valve replacement. The corresponding figures for patients undergoing a new tricuspid valve repair were 22.6% and 41.9%, respectively.
Reoperations
Of the 49 patients who survived the reoperation, 13 required a third operation because of severe tricuspid insufficiency associated with failure of tricuspid valve repair (n = 1); mitral and tricuspid dysfunction (n = 1); mitral, aortic, and tricuspid dysfunction (n = 2); isolated mitral dysfunction (n = 4); isolated aortic dysfunction (n = 1); and mitro-aortic dysfunction (n = 4). Indications of surgery included dysfunction of mitral and/or aortic bioprosthesis in 7 cases, prosthetic endocarditis in 1 case, and dehiscence of a prosthesis in 4 cases. In the 4 patients with a new tricuspid disease, a bioprosthesis was inserted in all of them.
Three patients (23.1%) died at reoperation, and 10 patients (76.9%) were discharged from the hospital. Six of these 10 patients underwent reoperation, 2 of whom died (33.3%).
At the follow-up closing date, 15 of the 19 survivors were in NYHA functional class I or II (78.9%), 3 survivors were in class III (15.8%), and 1 survivor was in class IV (5.3%). During the follow-up, 3 thromboembolic episodes were recorded, 5 patients had hemorrhagic episodes related to anticoagulation, and 1 patient had aortic prosthesis-related endocarditis. The actuarial curve free from valve-related complications was 9.6% ± 4.3% at 26 years (Figure 2).
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| Discussion |
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In our overall experience (19742002), 1080 patients underwent 1178 surgical procedures on the tricuspid valve, which included prosthetic valve replacement in 125 cases (10.6%) and a valve repair technique in the remaining 1053 cases (89.4%). The majority of survivors of tricuspid valve repair operations have an updated follow-up, some of them included in previous studies,
1,2
and are referred to our center when a reoperation is necessary. An outstanding finding of the present study is that tricuspid valve repair can be considered a curative procedure because in more than 25 years of experience, repair operations of the tricuspid valve failed in only 7% of the patients (n = 74). Probably, no other surgical valvular procedure shows this stability. This observation has also been reported by other authors.
15
In agreement with an extensive review recently published by McCarthy and associates,
16
residual tricuspid regurgitation grades 3+ or 4+ may even be acceptably tolerated by patients; on the other hand, a reoperation of the tricuspid valve is sometimes not indicated because of the high risk of poor results. In the present series of 74 patients, failure of tricuspid valve repair developed because of intrinsic dysfunction of the valve (n = 6) and reappearance of left-sided disease (n = 68); these accounted for 0.6% and 6.4% of all cases of tricuspid valve repair. Therefore, in defense of De Vegas and other suture annuloplasties
17,18
it should be mentioned that an intrinsic failure of this technique is rare. Recently, Carrier and associates
19
reported 25 years of experience with repair of tricuspid insufficiency, with a mean freedom rate from tricuspid repair failure of 95% ± 3%, 93% ± 3%, and 72% ± 8% at 5, 10, and 15 years, respectively, after the De Vega semicircular annuloplasty.
It is well known that coexistence of a tricuspid valve lesion with a mitral or mitro-aortic valvular disease has a worse prognosis with an increased hospital mortality and, particularly, a poor long-term outcome.
2,2022
In the study of Mullany and associates,
3
repair of tricuspid valve insufficiency in patients undergoing double (aortic and mitral) valve replacement was associated with an actuarial survival of 15% at 27 years, which is consistent with data reported by others.
4,20,21
In our experience, the actuarial survival after tricuspid valve repair is 50.5% at 12 years.
2
In agreement with other studies,
9,15
dysfunction after tricuspid valve repair requiring reoperation was associated with a high hospital mortality (33.8%) (combination of polyvalvular heart disease and reoperation). In our experience, hospital mortality after cardiac valve reoperations is greater than early mortality after native valve surgery.
23
A multivariate Cox regression analysis for overall mortality revealed that obesity (BMI > 24 kg/m2), cachexia (BMI < 20 kg/m2), grade of tricuspid regurgitation, use of balloon counterpulsation, and severe postoperative complications were significantly associated with fatal outcome.
Late mortality was also high. Thirty patients died during the 26-year follow-up period (40.5% of the initial series), with a linear incidence of 2.1% patients per year and an actuarial survival of 11.8% ± 4.9% at 26 years. These low survival figures have also been reported by other authors, such as a 15% survival at 27 years in the study of Mullany and associates,
3
a 25% survival at 15 years in the study of McGrath and associates,
4
or a 44% survival at 12 years in the study of Kay and associates.
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In accordance with the poor prognosis, the actuarial curve free from valve-related complications was 9.6% ± 4.3% at 26 years, that is, in approximately one third of a century there are no patients with dysfunction of tricuspid valve repair requiring a reoperation who are free from valve-related problems. Of the overall series of 74 patients, only 19 patients (25.7%) survived. End-stage heart failure was the most frequent cause of late death. This observation together with other findings indicates that an associated right ventricular dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension are probably the causes of tricuspid regurgitation and that this right-sided disease is responsible for the poor clinical results obtained. In addition, reoperations performed before 1991 showed an increased risk of late and overall mortality compared with operations after 1991. This is an expected finding related to general improvement of anesthetic and surgical techniques.
In conclusion, tricuspid vale repair is a long-term stable procedure; however, valve dysfunction requiring reoperation is associated with a high early and late mortality.
| Acknowledgments |
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| References |
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