Why the study?
Does early surgery reduce all-cause mortality in asymptomatic patients with severe degenerative mitral regurgitation compared to watchful waiting?
Does early surgery reduce all-cause mortality in asymptomatic patients with severe degenerative mitral regurgitation compared to watchful waiting?
This editorial discusses a meta-analysis comparing early surgery versus watchful waiting for asymptomatic severe degenerative mitral regurgitation in the context of recent guideline changes.
Goldstone et al. should be congratulated for presenting the first meta-analysis to assess the differences in all-cause mortality between watchful waiting versus early surgery for asymptomatic patients with severe degenerative mitral regurgitation (1). The topic is controversial, and the article is timely in the context of recent changes to the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines (2).
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Cao et al. (2015) studied this question.
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