The immediate post-operative results of conservative surgery were evaluated objectively in 31 children aged under 13 years referred to us for surgical correction of severe rheumatic mitral valve regurgitation. 16 patients had pure mitral regurgitation. In the others, lesions which required additional surgery were aortic regurgitation in 7 cases, tricuspid of the mitral valve and left ventricle was studied by two-dimensional TM-mode echocardiography. This examination was combined with a pulsed doppler study in search of a possible residual mitral regurgitation signal, with special attention to the depth at which it was recorded in the left atrium -- a semi-quantitative indication of the severity of residual leakage. Two mitral valve replacements were performed, and two early reoperations were needed for residual regurgitation developed between the 5th and 8th post-operative days. Three deaths occurred due to supra-systemic pulmonary arterial hypertension. The post-operative evaluation of mitral valvuloplasty results therefore involved 25 patients. In the absence of significant residual mitral regurgitation, two-dimensional echocardiography was inconclusive since the images obtained varied considerably according to the surgical procedures performed. There was a distinct reduction of end-diastolic diameters (43.5 +/- 5.9 versus 62.1 +/- 8.7 mm pre-operatively), reflecting the disappearance or marked decrease of the pre-operative ventricular volume overload consecutive to mitral regurgitation. The reduction of end-systolic diameters was also significant (31.2 +/- 6.7 mm versus 39.2 +/- 7.1 mm pre-operatively), though less pronounced than that of end-diastolic diameters, which explains the diminution observed in the percentage of fibre shortening, although the figures remained within normal limits (28.7 +/- 9.7 p. 100 versus 37.0 +/- 6.8 p. 100).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A 22-year old man with hydatid cyst of the right ventricle presented, for about 10 years, with clinical signs of post-embolic pulmonary hypertension. Despite tumoral resection, the patient died post-operatively of his pulmonary hypertension. Post-mortem examination showed a hydatid cyst on the main pulmonary artery and fixed post-embolic pulmonary hypertension, but we were unable to determine whether we were dealing with old migrated cysts or blood clot emboli developed in contact with the cardiac tumour.

Since 1983, 40 consecutive patients with mitral stenosis (MS) and significant disease of the subvalvular apparatus underwent open heart mitral commissurotomy (OHMC). The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of an unrestricted dilatation of the two commissures followed by repair of the subsequent mitral regurgitation. The mitral regurgitation created by this procedure in 24 cases was corrected by transferring 2 to 6 chordae tendinae to the free border of the anterior and/or posterior leaflet in the commissural region. A central regurgitant lesion due to lack of coaptation of the valvular surfaces was treated by annuloplasty with a Carpentier prosthesis in 12 cases. The subvalvular abnormalities were treated by the conventional techniques of fenestration, resection and division of the papillary muscles. Thirty of the 38 survivors had no residual murmur, and 6 had a short low intensity systolic murmur. The 2D echocardiographic study showed no residual stenosis. The residual systolic murmurs were evaluated by pulsed Doppler and corresponded to very localised regurgitation. This extensive operative technique gives very good immediate valvular results which, associated with an adequate subvalvular procedure, are considered to be an important prognostic factor.