Comparison of flexible, open with semi-rigid, closed annuloplasty-rings for mitral valve repair

BACKGROUND: Mitral regurgitation is a frequent valvular disease, with an increasing prevalence. We analysed the long-term outcomes of mitral valve repair procedures conducted over the last 10 years in our clinic using almost exclusively two different annuloplasty ring types. METHODS: A single-centre, retrospective analysis of mitral valve surgeries conducted between January 2005 and December 2015 for patients undergoing first-line mitral valve repair with either open (Cosgrove) or closed (CE Physio / Physio II) annuloplasty (OA or CA, respectively) rings. RESULTS: In total, 1120 patient documentations were available of which 528 underwent OA and 592 patients CA. The median age of patients was 64.0 years and 41.1% were female. The majority of these patients underwent the procedure because of degenerative valve disease. Rates of successful repair were about 90%, 72 h procedural mortality was 0.6% and the rate of re-intervention was 0.6% within the first 30 days. Functional (mitral regurgitation, left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic and systolic diameter and New York Heart Association class) as well as hard outcomes were comparable. 77.7 and 74.4% of patients were alive at the 10-year follow-up in the OA and CA groups, respectively. Upon multivariable adjustment, the hazard ratio was 0.926 (95% CI: 0.642–1.3135; p = 0.681). CONCLUSIONS: The functional outcome and survival rates up to 10 years after mitral valve repair were comparable using open and closed annuloplasty rings. Whether this means these rings are interchangeable or a carefully selection of the best-for-the-patient devices will be subject of future investigations.