[Results of 30 years' surgical treatment of acquired defects and diseases of the heart].

: A total of 11085 patients have been operated on for rheumatic heart diseases over thirty years, 85.4% of those, for mitral stenosis or its relapse, using the "closed" method (total mortality was 2.7%). In recent years, the mortality rate has dropped to 1.5% in that group of patients. Prevention of heart failure and thromboembolic complications still are the principal problem of mitral commissurotomy. Traumatic regurgitation was seen in 2%. The operation was performed under extracorporeal circulation in 6.2% of patients. Mortality, associated with mitral prosthesis implantation, has decreased threefold (to 10.8%) over 15 years. A total of 131 patients have been operated on for constrictive pericarditis, the mortality rate was 10.7%. Primary implantation of electric pacemaker for complete transverse heart block has been performed in 196 patients, and the generator was replaced in 143 patients.