Mitral reconstructive operations. A series of 130 consecutive cases.

Between January, 1975, and January, 1982, 130 patients underwent mitral valvuloplasty for pure or predominant mitral insufficiency. Mean age at operation was 30 ± 17 years. Twenty-five patients were under 15 years of age. Mitral insufficiency was mainly (112/130) due to rheumatic disease. Fifty-nine patients (45.4%) had another diseased valve which necessitated a surgical correction (tricuspid in 36 and aortic in 23). Surgical technique for mitral valvuloplasty varied according to the lesions. Three patients died in the first month after operation (2.3%). Five patients are lost to follow-up. The mean follow-up period for the 122 remaining patients is 38 ± 27 months. Seven patients required reoperation and three of them died. An additional patient died without reoperation. Therefore, the late mortality was 3.1 % (4/122). Almost all (116/118) of the remaining patients are in Class I (105) or II (11) of the New York Heart Association. Mean cardiothoracic ratio decreased from 60.6% ± 7.7% preoperatively to 53.7% ± 6.2% postoperatively (p