Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency and ITS Management

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A retrospective review has been done on the management of 178 patients (mean age 42.53 ± 3.68 years) who underwent tricuspid valve annuloplasty for correcting the incompetent tricuspid valves (functional regurgitation and stenosis cases). The De Vega method was practiced on 172 (97%) of the patients. Tricuspid regurgitation of varying degrees and in association with other valve lesions was present in almost all of the cases. It was severe in 84% of the cases. Mitral regurgitation was severe in 56% of the patients. Aortic regurgitation was less prevalent and was graded as severe in 12%, whereas pulmonary regurgitation was 0.6% of severity. Only 2.8% of the patients had single procedure tricuspid valve (TV) surgeries. The rest had concomitant mitral valve (MV), aortic valve (AV) and or pulmonary valve (PV) surgery. Pre and post operative regurgitation reflected an appreciable improvement and gave significant results, at the immediate and mid-term assessment. Thus the De Vega procedure, which was the method employed most during the studied period remains a valid surgical option for tricuspid annuloplasty.

Tricuspid valve; regurgitation; De Vega; annuloplasty; stenosis