Percutaneous mitral valvotomy versus closed surgical commissurotomy. Up to 15 years of follow-up of a prospective randomized study

Closed Mitral Valvotomy Reenvision

In developing countries, like the Indian subcontinent, population overload, malnutrition, poor socio-economic status of affected groups, and health care facilities affect the treatment outcome. Nowadays procedures such as percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy (PBMV) and open heart mitral valve replacement are offered to patients with mitral stenosis. Whenever PBMV is unavailable due to financial constraints and open surgical management cannot be offered due to overburdened healthcare facilities, closed mitral valvotomy (CMV) provides an excellent choice for patients with favorable mitral valve pathology. Many centers do not practice CMV and thus this procedure is dying out. The young generation of surgeons are not been trained in CMV. The purpose of our study is to reenvision CMV and emphasize its vital role in mitral stenosis patient subsets like pregnant women and young adults. 

We reviewed the literature for various valvotomy techniques done for mitral valve stenosis and restenosis. Immediate and late outcomes were compared between the patients receiving Percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy and closed mitral valvotomy.

The immediate and late-term results are comparable for PBMV and CMV and no statistically significant difference exists. The post-PBMV Mitral valve area (MVA) ranged from 2.1 +/- 0.7 cm^2 to 2.3 +/-0.94 cm^2 and post CMV MVA ranged from 1.3+/-0.3 cm^2 to 2.2+/-0.85 cm^2. Complications developing in both techniques are also nearly similar. Operative mortality in CMV patients ranged from 1% to 4.2%, also observed in PBMV patients in various studies. Mitral Regurgitation occurred in both groups equally and ranged from 0.3% to 14%. Restenosis was observed in both groups in the range of 4% to 5%. High fetal loss of around 20% mortality was witnessed in pregnant mitral stenosis patients undergoing open heart surgery.

It's time to re-envision CMV since it is providing substantial outcomes and remitting the need for open-heart surgery at a very low cost in patients with mitral stenosis with a pliable valve.

Balloon Mitral Valvotomy With the Accura Double-Lumen Balloon Catheter: Immediate and One-Year Clinical Outcomes

Objective

Despite the decline in the incidence of rheumatic heart disease in developed countries, the disease still remains endemic among individuals of low socioeconomic status. The aim of the study is to assess immediate and one-year outcomes of balloon mitral valvotomy using the double-lumen Accura balloon (Vascular Innovations Co., Nonthaburi, Thailand) in patients with mitral valve stenosis.

Methods

This was a single-centre, observational, investigator-initiated retrospective study. All consecutive patients undergoing balloon mitral valvotomy with the Accura balloon between January 2015 and June 2020 were included. The primary endpoint was procedural success defined as an increase in mitral valve area (MVA) ≥50% from basal valve area or final valve area of ≥1.5 cm², in the absence of mitral regurgitation grade >2. Clinical, echocardiographic, and haemodynamic parameters were assessed at the one-year follow-up.

Results

A total of 62 patients underwent balloon mitral valvotomy. The mean age was 34.9 ± 8.0 years, and 54 (87.1%) patients were female. Mean Wilkins' echo score was 7.5 ± 0.5. Procedural success was achieved in 59 (96.7%) patients. Mean MVA increased from 0.75 ± 0.14 cm² to 1.64 ± 0.21 cm², and mean mitral valve gradient decreased from 24.9 ± 5.5 mmHg to 7.30 ± 1.40 mmHg. Atrial fibrillation, mitral valve replacement, and moderate to severe mitral regurgitation occurred in 36 (59.0%), two (3.3%), and two (3.3%) patients, respectively. No death, cerebrovascular accidents, restenosis, or redo procedures occurred.

Conclusion

Balloon mitral valvotomy using the double-lumen Accura balloon is safe in patients with mitral valve stenosis.

2020 ACC/AHA Guideline for the Management of Patients With Valvular Heart Disease: Executive Summary: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines

AIM

This executive summary of the valvular heart disease guideline provides recommendations for clinicians to diagnose and manage valvular heart disease as well as supporting documentation to encourage their use.

METHODS

A comprehensive literature search was conducted from January 1, 2010, to March 1, 2020, encompassing studies, reviews, and other evidence conducted on human subjects that were published in English from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Reports, and other selected database relevant to this guideline. Structure: Many recommendations from the earlier valvular heart disease guidelines have been updated with new evidence and provides newer options for diagnosis and treatment of valvular heart disease. This summary includes only the recommendations from the full guideline which focus on diagnostic work-up, the timing and choice of surgical and catheter interventions, and recommendations for medical therapy. The reader is referred to the full guideline for graphical flow charts, text, and tables with additional details about the rationale for and implementation of each recommendation, and the evidence tables detailing the data considered in developing these guidelines.

Surgical rheumatic mitral valve repair compared with percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty in mitral stenosis in current era: a propensity score matching study

Background

Many comparative studies of percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (PBMV) and surgical mitral commissurotomy (SMC) in rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS) were done in the last few decades. With the development of valve repair techniques, various surgical rheumatic valve repair techniques have been applied in clinic, but there is a lack of comparison with PBMV. Our study was designed to compare the perioperative and mid-term outcomes of PBMV and mitral valve repair with “four-step” procedure in the treatment of rheumatic MS.

Methods

Patients with MS were treated with PBMV or rheumatic mitral valve repair (rMVP) at Beijing Anzhen Hospital between January 1, 2013 and September 30, 2018 were selected. By using propensity score matching (PSM) method, we compared the changes in post-operation clinical outcomes between the two matched groups. Kaplan-Meier analyses was used for survival analysis and drawing the curve, and log-rank test were used to compare intergroup differences.

Results

A total of 252 cases were enrolled after selection, 74 cases in PBMV and 178 cases in rMVP. Seventy-four pairs were matched successfully after PSM. There were 53 females in PBMV and 54 in rMVP. The mean age of two groups was 46.95±12.50 and 47.55±11.91 years respectively. There was no significantly differences in mitral valve orifice area (MVOA) (1.05±0.32 vs. 0.97±0.24 cm², P=0.12) and left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) (62.36%±5.17% vs. 62.52%±4.94%, P=0.76) between two groups preoperatively. Baseline characteristics were basically balanced after PSM. In each group, there was one case transferred to surgical mitral valve replacement due to the failure of valvuloplasty before discharge. All patients survived the interventions and no severe complications were found. MVOA were significantly increased in rMVP compared with PBMV postoperatively, as well as grading of MS and tricuspid regurgitation (TR) were significantly improved in rMVP. Three cases in PBMV were lost during the follow-up. Mitral replacement was performed in 11 patients and one of them died in PBMV, while none of patients underwent re-intervention in rMVP, but one patient died of pneumonia.

Conclusions

For selected patients with rheumatic MS in China, our study shows that there are comparable clinical outcomes in terms of operative, mid-term mortality and complications between PBMV and surgical rMVP with “four-step” procedure. Surgical rMVP shows more advantageous in the correction of valve stenosis and the management of concomitant tricuspid valve lesions and atrial fibrillation (AF).

Percutaneous mitral commissurotomy versus surgical commissurotomy for rheumatic mitral stenosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

AIM

Patients with severe mitral stenosis (MS) and their clinicians typically choose percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC) over surgical commissurotomy (SC). However, the durability of PTMC relative to SC is uncertain. We compared the efficacy, safety and durability of PTMC with SC for the treatment of MS.

METHODS

We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE and WHO ICTRP registers for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing PTMC, and open and/or closed mitral commissurotomy. The principal outcomes were rate of re-intervention and symptomatic improvement as inferred from the surrogate measures of immediate postprocedural mitral valve area (MVA), MVA at ≥6 month follow-up, incidence of mitral regurgitation (MR) and restenosis. We calculated weighted mean differences (WMD) for continuous outcomes, relative risks (RR) for binary outcomes and pooled outcomes using random-effects models and assessed the quality of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

RESULTS

Seven RCTs with 553 patients proved eligible. Pooled estimates showed no convincing difference in the risk of restenosis or re-intervention (15/100 fewer with PTMC, 95% CI (-20 to +8); quality of evidence: moderate) or in symptoms as inferred from immediate MVA (WMD 0.15, 95% CI (-0.18 to 0.48): very low), from the incidence of postprocedural severe MR (3/100 more with PTMC, 95% CI (-1 to +10): moderate) or from MVA at 30 months.

CONCLUSION

Until data demonstrating convincing superiority of SC over PTMC become available, our results support the current practice of recommending PTMC to young patients with MS and favourable valve morphology, as it is associated with lower peri-procedural morbidity.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

PROSPERO 2017 (CRD42017079512).

Mitral leaflet separation index. An easy two dimensional echocardiography technique for assessment of mitral valve area before and after percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty

AIM

To evaluate the reliability of the mitral leaflet separation (MLS) index against the traditional echocardiographic methods in measuring mitral valve area (MVA) pre and post percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (PBMV).

METHODS

Ninety patients suffering symptomatic moderate to severe MS underwent PBMV at Ain Shams University Hospital in cardiology department. Seventy of the patients were females representing 77.8% and 20 were males representing 22.2%. Their age ranged from 22 to 56 years. All patients were subjected to full transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) examination pre and post PBMV. MLS index was introduced as a comparative parameter with traditional echocardiographic methods for assessment of MVA, measuring average of distance between tips of MV leaflets in parasternal long axis and four chamber two dimensional echocardiographic views.

RESULTS

MVA increased from 0.95 ± 0.28 to 2.21 ± 0.41 cm2 (P=0.001) using 2D planimetry; and increased from 0.93 ± 0.23 to 2.21 ± 0.46 cm2 (P= 0.0011) by pressure half time method (PHT). MLS index was correlated with MVA by 2D planimetry pre and post PBMV (r=0.453) and (r=0.668) respectively (p=0.0001) and strongly correlated with MVA using PHT post PBMV (r=0.768) (p=0.0001). Post PBMV 14 patients suffered significant mitral regurgitation 3 of them were transferred to surgery. MLS index above 11.75 mm and below 9.15 mm had excellent positive predictive value for detecting mild and severe MS respectively.

CONCLUSION

The MLS index it is a simple and effective method for assessment of the MVA, it has an excellent correlation with MVA with an excellent sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of effective MVA. The MLS index cannot evaluate outcome of PBMV because it is an anatomical parameter and not flow dependent thus does not correlate with grades of mitral regurgitation.

Delayed complication of balloon mitral commisurrotomy. a rare case scenario

The last two decades has seen percutaneous transmitral commissurotomy turn out to be the standard of care in most patients with symptomatic mitral stenosis with a large body of evidence reporting excellent outcome on the short- and long-term with low incidence of serious complications. Complications necessitating urgent surgery are rare and include acute severe mitral regurgitation from mitral valve tear and cardiac tamponade due to cardiac chamber perforation. We report a rare extracardiac bleeding complication of balloon valvotomy presenting a month after the procedure with severe symptoms and mediastinal shift warranting emergency redo sternotomy and mediastinal thrombectomy.

Anaesthesia in the cardiac catheterization laboratory

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Interventions in the cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL) requiring anaesthetic expertise are becoming routine. These interventions involve a heterogeneous patient population and take place in an offsite location. This review aims to give an insight into anaesthetic issues surrounding certain interventions and the challenges encountered in an offsite location.

RECENT FINDINGS

Owing to an ageing population with increasing comorbidity, transcatheter interventions are being developed and in certain cases becoming routine alternatives for open heart operations. Percutaneous interventions are also being increasingly performed in adult patients with congenital heart abnormalities. The anaesthetic team plays an important role in these procedures, requiring detailed knowledge of the intervention, the characteristics of the patient population and the ability to work as a team in a complex, multidisciplinary setting.

SUMMARY

Interventions in the CCL have developed to such an extent that dedicated anaesthesia teams are required in order to cope with the complexities of the patient populations, the interventions and the challenges brought by the offsite nature of the CCL.

Immediate and long-term outcome of redo percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty: comparison with initial procedure in patients with rheumatic mitral restenosis

AIMS

We explored the immediate and long-term outcome of redo percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty (PMV) in a series of patients with mitral restenosis in comparison with initial PMV in the same series.

METHODS

We enrolled 40 consecutive patients presenting with mitral restenosis after successful initial PMV. Redo PMV was performed by the antegrade transseptal approach using either the Inoue technique or the multitrack technique. Reassessment by transthoracic echocardiography was repeated 48 hours later, and annually thereafter. Procedural success was defined as 50% or more increase of mitral valve area (MVA) with a final MVA >or=1.5 cm(2), without major complications. Restenosis was defined as loss of >50% of the initial gain of MVA by the preceding PMV with a final MVA <1.5 cm(2).

RESULTS

Procedural success was achieved in 37 (92.5%) patients. Both the initial and redo procedures were similar concerning the final MVA and mean transmitral pressure gradient (P > 0.05 for all). The gain of MVA was higher in the initial as compared to the redo procedure (P < 0.001). The initial mitral valve score correlated negatively with the final MVA in both the initial and redo procedures, and was the only independent predictor of the time to redo procedure, by multivariate regression analysis. At long-term follow-up (61 +/- 2.8 months), the mean MVA was 1.6 +/- 0.3 cm(2). Three patients--out of 12 available for follow-up--developed restenosis.

CONCLUSION

Redo PMV for mitral restenosis is feasible, safe, and achieves immediate and long-term outcome comparable to initial PMV.

Transcatheter cardiac valve interventions

Currently aortic valve replacement is performed for patients with severe aortic stenosis and symptoms or objective pathophysiologic consequences such as left ventricular dysfunction. For transcatheter mitral valve interventions, the complex pathophysiology of mitral regurgitation with varying causes along with challenging imaging and delivery issues has led to slower than anticipated clinical introduction. Transcatheter pulmonary valve intervention was primarily designed to treat the difficult problem of right ventricular to pulmonary artery conduit stenosis in the congenital population. These techniques are reviewed in this article.