Repair versus replacement for ischemic mitral regurgitation

Whether repair or replacement is the preferred approach to surgical correction of ischemic mitral regurgitation is debated. The Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network previously reported 1-year results of a randomized study of these two approached and found no differences echocardiographic or clinical outcomes. This paper reports the 2-year echocardiographic and clinical outcome results from this randomized trial of 251 patients with severe ischemic mitral regurgitation. At 2 years follow-up, there were no significant differences in mortality (19% after repair versus 23% after replacement; P=0.39). Compared with replacement, the rate of recurrence of moderate or severe mitral regurgitation was significantly higher following repair (58.8% …