Methods: Twentyfive patients with mild functional TR was included to this study. Preoperative and postoperative functional TR was evaluated with color flow doppler echocardiography in apical 4-chamber view with the measurment of mosaic formation area in the right atrium during systole. For every patient, right atrial inferior-superior (RA inf/sup), mediolateral (RA med/lat) diameters, right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and inflow tract (RVIT) diameters, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and pulmonary arterial sistolic pressure (PAPs) were measured. Wilcoxon macthed pairs signed rank test was used for analysis of data.
Results: After mitral valve replacement, mild functional TR completely dissapeared in 48% (12), regressed in 56% (14), remained the same in 32% (8) and progressed in 12% (3) of the patients. Preoperative echocardiographic parameters in patients with or without postoperative residual TR were as following: RA inf/sup 56.53 ± 8.78 / 50.25 ± 3.33 mm, RA med/lat 44.46 ± 4.71 / 38.16 ± 4.04 mm, RVOT 24.84 ± 2.6 / 24.25 ± 2.49 mm, RVIT 40.69 ± 2.28 / 39 ± 3.71 mm, LVEF %57.69 ± 8.15 / %61.75 ± 5.81, PAPs 58.92 ± 8.97 / 55,.33 ± 6.89 respectively. There was a significant difference in preoperative right atrial dimension between the patients with or without residual TR (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: In conclusion, preoperative right atrial diameters are predictive criterion for postoperative residual TR.