Does the presence of atrial fibrillation affect survival and repair durability in patients undergoing mitral valve repair?
Atrial fibrillation does not independently affect early outcome or durability of mitral valve repair, but serves as a marker of disease progression associated with poor left ventricular function.
BACKGROUND: To investigate the outcome of patients in atrial fibrillation (AF) following mitral valve repair, clinical and echocardiographic follow-up was undertaken in 400 consecutive patients who underwent mitral valvuloplasty from 1987 to 1999. METHODS AND RESULTS: The main indications for surgery were degenerative (81.4%), endocarditis (7.1%), rheumatic (6.6%), ischemic (4.6%), and traumatic (0.3%) mitral valve disease. After excluding 6 paced patients and 1 patient in nodal rhythm, we compared the outcomes of 152 patients in AF against 241 patients in sinus rhythm. For patients in AF versus those in sinus rhythm, more AF patients were older (mean age 67.2+/-8.8 versus 61.9+/-11.8 years, respectively; P70 years (P=0.041), and poor ventricular function (P<0.001). However, by use of a multivariate model, only poor ventricular function remained significant (P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: AF does not affect early outcome or durability of mitral repair. The onset of AF may be indicative of disease progression because of its association with poor left ventricular function.
Lim et al. (Tue,) studied this question.