JUAN CRESTANELLO: Welcome to the Cardiovascular Surgery Series. where I review the latest research in cardiovascular surgery from the Mayo Clinic in just two minutes. I am Dr. Juan Crestanello. I am a cardiac surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. We will discuss today "Robotic mitral valve repair: a decade of experience with echocardiographic follow-up."
We reviewed 843 patients who had robotic mitral valve repair for mitral regurgitation at our institution. Fifty-seven percent had posterior leaflet prolapse, while 39% had bileaflet prolapse. Early outcomes were excellent. Operative mortality was 0.4% and length of hospital stay was three days. The durability of the repair and the long-term survival were also excellent. Freedom from reoperation was 92% at 10 years, and long-term survival was 93% at 10 years.
This study is unique, as it provides long-term echocardiographic follow-up. It shows that the ejection fraction and left ventricular volumes all continuously improve up to two years after the surgery. After that time, the ejection fraction remained stable and the cardiac volumes gradually increased. The rate of recurrence of moderate or severe MR was only 6%.
We conclude that robotic mitral valve repair is safe with excellent long-term results, including echocardiographic data that demonstrated early improvement in cardiac chamber size and cardiac function. The very low mortality rates and freedom from reoperation are comparable to those of the standard open repair. Thank you for listening to the Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Surgery Series.