A Comparison of Early and Medium-term Results of De Vega Annuloplasty and Ring Annuloplasty Techniques for the Tricuspid Valve Repair in Patients Undergoing Mitral Valve Replacement

Objectives: Tricuspid regurgitation is a pathology that usually occurs secondary to left heart pathologies and affects the daily activities of the patients. The long-term results of tricuspid valve replacement are not very encouraging. Therefore, the primary treatment for tricuspid valve regurgitation is repair. Therefore, which repair method should be used is very critical. The aim of our study is to compare tricuspid valve De Vega annuloplasty (TDVA) and tricuspid valve ring annuloplasty (TRA) methods, which are frequently used in tricuspid regurgitation (TR). Methods: Patients who underwent TDVA or TRA in addition to mitral valve replacement at our hospital between January 01, 2017, and December 31, 2019 were included in the study. The study was designed retrospectively and was based on hospital database, patient files, and archive records. A total of 125 patients were included in the study. The pre-operative, intraoperative, and post-operative clinical features of the patients were investigated, and their cardiac status at the last follow-up visit to the hospital was investigated. Results: In the early post-operative and mid-term evaluation, TR was similar in both groups. Conclusion: There is no difference between TRA and TDVA techniques in terms of the recurrence of tricuspid valve insufficiency in the early and mid-term post-operative period. Both techniques are not perfect, and there is a need for the development of new strategies and techniques.