Between January, 1991 and May 1995, mitral valve repair was undertaken on 32 patients under 15 years for congenital mitral regurgitation. Mean age was 24.0±26.1 months(range 3 months to 15 years), 16 patients were male and 16 patients were
female
associated cardiac anomalies were found in 26 patients (81%), and ventricular septal defects were noted in 18 patients(56%). In regards to pathologic findings, there were annular dilatation(n=7), leaflet prolapse(n=18), cleft leaflet(n=5) and
restricted
valve motion (n=2). The method of repair consisted of annuloplasty(Modified DeVega type) in 14, repair of redundunt leaflet in 6, closure of cleft in 5, triangular resection in 2 and splitting of papillary muscle in one. There was no operative
mortality
and two late deaths occurred as a result of heart failure and sepsis. Two patients required replacement of the mitral valve after 3 months and 7 months respectively because of recurrent mitral regurgitation. Actuarial survival was 92.5% at 46
months and
actuarial freedom from reoperation was 95% at 12 months and 92.5% at 46 months. Actuarial freedom from valve repair failure was 68% at 12 months and 61.8% at 46 months. Although valve repair failure rate was high, we believe that mitral valve
repair
should be offerred to children because of low mortality and low reoperation rate.
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