EFFICACY OF MITRAL BALLOON VALVOTOMY IN REDUCING THE SEVERITY OF ASSOCIATED TRICUSPID-VALVE REGURGITATION

In patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis, concomitant tricuspid regurgitation (TR) has been reported in 22 to 35%.1,2 The mechanism of TR may be due to rheumatic disease of the tricuspid leaflets themselves, or functional secondary to pulmonary hypertension with subsequent dilatation of the right ventricle and tricuspid annulus.2-6 The management of TR in patients undergoing mitral valve replacement has been debated by several investigators and remains controversial.7-14 Although successful mitral valve surgery,2,15 and more recently, mitral balloon valvotomy (MBV)16-17 have both been shown to be associated with reductions in pulmonary arterial pressure and resistance, whether this is necessarily accompanied by an amelioration of TR is unknown. Data after mitral valve surgery are numerous but conflicting,7-14 and no studies are available on the effects of MBV, if any, on the severity of TR. © 1994.