Mid-term results of mitral valve repair with autologous pericardium in pediatric patients.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Mitral valve repair to treat mitral regurgitation (MR) in pediatric patients remains challenging because of the complex morphology and fragility of the leaflets. The study aim was to review retrospectively the authors' experience with mitral valve repair using autologous pericardium. METHODS: Between April 2004 and November 2011, nine pediatric patients (six males, three females; mean age 2.4 +/- 4.5 years) underwent mitral valve repair with an autologous fresh (n = 5) or glutaraldehyde-treated pericardium (n = 4) to treat severe MR. The etiology of the MR was acute endocarditis, acute chordal rupture and congenital disease in three, two, and four patients, respectively. Autologous pericardium was used for valvuloplasty, leaflet extension plasty and commissuroplasty in two, five, and two patients, respectively. Artificial chordal replacement was performed in three patients. RESULTS: No operative deaths or postoperative endocarditis occurred. One patient required mitral valve replacement at three days after the initial mitral repair. The most recent echocardiography findings of the remaining patients after a mean of 6.3 years (range: 1.3-9.0 years) showed that the severity of mitral insufficiency, left ventricular diastolic diameter and fractional shortening were 1.8 +/- 0.6 (grades 0-4), 40.4 +/- 8.4 mm (114.2 +/- 15.8% of normal) and 35.0 +/- 5.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Mitral valve repair using autologous fresh pericardium is associated with mid-term durability and resistance to infection when used for mitral valve repair of active endocarditis in pediatric patients. Augmentation with autologous pericardium could become an alternative to current surgical options.