Attitude towards a moderate aortic valve dysfunction during rheumatic mitral valve surgery: a retrospective cohort study

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Key findings

• The condition of predominant moderate aortic regurgitation could be ameliorated with the rheumatic mitral valve (MV) surgery.

What is known and what is new?

• During MV surgery, aortic valve replacement is recommended for patients with severe aortic valve dysfunction (AVD), while preventive aortic valve surgery does not result in better clinical and echocardiographic outcomes for patients with mild AVD.

• During rheumatic MV surgery, concomitant aortic valve surgery could result in better echocardiographic outcomes for patients with moderate AVD, while moderate predominant aortic regurgitation could be left untreated.

What is the implication, and what should change now?

• Delaying aortic valve surgery may be considered as an viable option for patients with moderate predominant aortic regurgitation during MV surgery.

Publication: Liu C, Wang M, Liu P, Liu J, Deng Q, Jiang W, Zhang H. Attitude towards a moderate aortic valve dysfunction during rheumatic mitral valve surgery: a retrospective cohort study. J Thorac Dis 2025;17(1):187-197. doi: 10.21037/jtd-24-1283