[Mitral valve replacement in children and in adolescents. Surgical indication and long-term results in 86 cases].

: 1. The authors present 86 children and adolescents with rheumatic heart disease of the Pediatric Cardiology Service of the Instituto Nacional de Cardiologia who received valve replacements in the period between September, 1964 and April, 1973, a series which is more numerous and of longer follow-up than any published up to the present 2. In order to obtain comparable results, patients with mitral heart disease of other origen and aortic replacement as well as those subjected to double or triple exchange, were omitted from the study. 3. The symptomatology, the presence of compensated heart failure, the progression of cardiomegaly, the radiologic and electrocardiographic changes, the presence of atrial fibrillation, the mean venocapilary, pulmonary arter, and left right ventricle telediastolic pressures, the pulmonary resistence figures and the results of cineangiocardiography were the fundamental elements used to establish the surgical indication. 4. None were operated with clinic or laboratory data suggesting rheumatic activability. The shortest period between the last bout of rheumatic fever and surgery was 10 months. 5. The clinic improvement was remarkable. Half of the cases receiving digitalis and diuretics were released without this prescription and only 10% continue to take digitalis. With the exception of five patients, the physical capacity is normal and most play sports. The postoperatory radiologic and electrocardiographic changes were remarkable, most were obtained a few months after surgery. With the exception of one case, atrial fibrillation disappeared (in 58% before six months in a group of 31 patients). 6. The later complications attributed to the valve replacement as well as the 15 deaths in the total lot were analyzed. It was pointed out that the hospital death rate was 12.6% and the later was 5.3%, extraordinarily low figures if it is taken into account that the material corresponds to nine years of work and the problems inherent to the initial period are included. It gains still greater importance if compared to the series published up to the date. The global mortality rate of 17.9% is small in relation to the only comparable publication, -30 and if only the results of the last three years are compiled (61 cases equals 70 of the series), the global death rate was 9.8%. 7. It was noted that the results are due to the system adopted for establishing the surgical indication, to the good state of the myocardial fiber...