Mitral valve repair procedures have been the preferred operation method in recent years with the concomitant increase in the incidence of relatively rare complications like hemolysis. For this reason, any patient who fails to show the expected recovery after valve repair surgery should be examined for its presence. We hereby report on two such patients and discuss the best management strategy.
The patient underwent mitral valve replacement (MVR) with a St Jude® (St Jude Medical, St Paul, MN, USA) mechanical mitral valve prosthesis. A month after the procedure, her Htc was 39% and her blood biochemistry was within normal limits. On her blood smear, schistocytes were no longer seen.
Case 2– A 46-year-old male was admitted to the cardiology department with symptoms of listlessness, weight loss, and increasing dyspnea on exertion five months after mitral annuloplasty with a St. Jude® mitral ring. His past medical history revealed the presence of dark urine that he experienced three days after his surgery and blood transfusions during that period.
Although his preoperative Htc and LDH levels were 47.2% and 226 IU/dl, respectively, we detected lower values at admission: Htc 27%; LDH 5425 IU/dl, and direct/indirect bilirubin 0.36/2.2 mg/dl. Peripheral smear showed schistocytes and nucleated erythrocytes suggesting mechanical lysis of erythrocytes and increased erythropoiesis (Figure 1). Moreover, both transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiographies showed grade 2/4 eccentric mitral regurgitation and the partial dehiscence of the ring (Figure 2).
The patient was followed up for the resolution of hemolysis as the mitral regurgitation was not severe. During the four-month follow-up period, the hemolysis failed to resolve, and there was no improvement in the patient's symptoms. Nine months after his initial mitral valve repair, the patient underwent mitral valve replacement with a St Jude® mechanical mitral valve prosthesis. Five weeks after the procedure, his Htc was 36% and his blood biochemistry was within normal limits. On his blood smear, schistocytes and nucleated erythrocytes were no longer seen.
When compared with mitral valve replacement, mitral valve repair has lower mortality (2% versus 6%) and a lower 10-year reoperation risk.[3] Early complications of mitral valve repair are mainly due to cardiopulmonary bypass and general anesthesia, but hemolysis is known to be a rare and serious complication. Prompt recognition of hemolysis after mitral valve repair operations is of paramount importance because it may lead to the identification of a deterioration in the patient's clinical status and functional capacity which can then be corrected with appropriate therapy. Hemolysis after mitral valve repair can be caused by regurgitant jet fragmentation (a regurgitant jet divided by a solid structure such as a ring), rapid acceleration (a regurgitant jet originates from a small orifice such as a ring dehiscence), or other sources such as abrupt slowing due to the constraining effect of the left atrial wall in eccentric jets. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography may be a useful tool for the early diagnosis of echocardiographic abnormalities which would otherwise increase the risk of postoperative hemolysis. Unfortunately, Lam et al.[4] reported that hemolysis was not associated with any preoperative or postoperative echocardiographic variables. Nevertheless, transesophageal echocardiography can detect ring dehiscence and high-velocity regurgitant jets impinging upon an annuloplasty ring which can then be corrected during surgery.
In a patient presenting with hemolysis after mitral repair, a hematological evaluation should be performed to determine other causes of hemolysis and anemia. If the patient has minimal functional impairment, as in our second patient, an initial trial of medical therapy with afterload reducing agents along with iron, folate, and vitamin B12 supplementation to correct anemia seems prudent. The indications for reoperation are severe hemolysis, severe anemia which is unresponsive to medical therapy, a continued need for red blood cell transfusions, or the progression of residual mitral regurgitation to severe status.[5]
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect
to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the
research and/or authorship of this article.
1) Yeo TC, Freeman WK, Schaff HV, Orszulak TA. Mechanisms
of hemolysis after mitral valve repair: assessment by serial
echocardiography. J Am Coll Cardiol 1998;32:717-23.
2) Brandon Bravo Bruinsma GJ, Bredée JJ, de Mol BA. Mitral
valve repair-related hemolysis: a report of two cases. Int J Cardiol 1997;60:317-20.
3) Bonow RO, Carabello BA, Chatterjee K, de Leon AC Jr,
Faxon DP, Freed MD, et al. ACC/AHA 2006 guidelines for
the management of patients with valvular heart disease: a
report of the American College of Cardiology/American
Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines
(writing Committee to Revise the 1998 guidelines for
the management of patients with valvular heart disease)
developed in collaboration with the Society of Cardiovascular
Anesthesiologists endorsed by the Society for Cardiovascular
Angiography and Interventions and the Society of Thoracic
Surgeons. J Am Coll Cardiol 2006;48:e1-148.
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