Papillary muscle head approximation for the treatment of mitral valve regurgitation combined with aortic valve disease.

We initiated an original papillary muscle head approximation procedure, commonly known as Sandwich plasty, for the treatment of ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR). In this study, we evaluated the appropriateness of this procedure for functional MR associated with aortic valve disease. Fifteen patients who had undergone Sandwich plasty combined with aortic valve surgery were included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 69 years. Predominant aortic valve diseases were regurgitation in 8 patients and stenosis in 7 patients. Aortic valve replacement was performed in 14 patients and David surgery in one. The mitral valve was approached through the aortic annulus in 9 patients (the transaortic group). Six other patients with mitral valve annulus of 30 mm or larger underwent concomitant mitral ring-annuloplasty through a left atrial incision (the LA group). The tenting height of the mitral valve and left ventricle diastolic diameter significantly decreased after surgery in both groups. After surgery, residual moderate or mild MR was detected in two patients in the transaortic group. In the LA group, residual mitral regurgitation was not detected. In the follow-up study, prominent MR occurred in two patients in the transaortic group. The MR free rate two years after surgery was 83% in the total patient population. Sandwich plasty was simple and effective in the treatment of functional mitral regurgitation combined with aortic valve surgery. A transaortic approach is effective in obviating a separate left atriotomy and reducing operation time.