[Conservative valve surgery in endomyocardial fibrosis. Apropos of 8 cases among 46 surgically treated patients].

The authors report their experience of conservative valvular surgery in endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF) (8 cases among 46 surgical cases). These patients were divided into 3 groups: Group I: bilateral EMF predominating on the left side with associated tricuspid involvement (n: 3). Group II: bilateral EMF predominating on the right side with moderate associated mitral involvement (n: 3). Group III: unilateral EMF with massive mitral insufficiency, (n: 2). At surgery, on the side of the conserved valve, the patients had a transvalvular endocardectomy (n: 3) and a valvuloplasty either tricuspid (n: 3) or mitral (n: 5). The results of the valvuloplasty were satisfactory. Two patients died in the post-operative period. Their death was unrelated with the conservative procedure. The authors study the literature concerning the cases of valvular conservative surgery in EMF (n: 4) and define the conditions under which this surgery can be done. They report 2 original cases of pure left sided limited EMF with massive mitral insufficiency successfully treated by a valvuloplasty.