[Chronic cardiac insufficiency at the decompensation stage and the surgical treatment of mitral stenosis].

A classification of chronic heart failure was made on the material of surgical treatment of 290 patients with rheumatic mitral heart defect with prevailing stenosis. Three stages of chronic heart failure at the decompensation stage were found: I--unstable removable; II--stable removable; III--stable not completely removable. In the Ist stage the authors recommend operations by both closed and open techniques; in the IInd stage closed methods are thought to be preferable (open operations may be used in single cases); in the IIIrd stage only closed methods are possible.