Commentary: In the era of mitral valve-in-valve therapy, mechanical prosthesis in young patients does not deserve to be forgotten

Chen and colleagues1 from Memorial Hospital of Taoyaun in Taiwan analyzed, retrospectively, the results of patients who received either biological or mechanical valve for mitral valve replacement in rheumatic heart disease. Patient data were extracted from the National Health Insurance administrative database in Taiwan. Propensity score analysis yielded 2 paired groups of 788 patients. No significant difference in terms of in-hospital mortality were observed between the 2 matched groups. Regarding late outcomes, all-cause mortality at 10  years was in favor of the mechanical valve group, risk of stroke tended to be higher in the mechanical group without statistical significance, and finally biological valve group reported a higher incidence of reoperation.
Source: The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery - Category: Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Authors: Tags: Commentary Source Type: research