Objective To compare clinical outcomes and safety between minimally invasive mitral valve replacement via right minithoracotomy （mini-MVR） and traditional mitral valve replacement （MVR）. Methods Clinical data of 68 patients with valvular heart diseases who underwent mini-MVR from February 2009 to December 2011 in Wuhan Asia Heart Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. There were 36 males and 32 females in this mini-MVR group with their mean age of 34.2±11.2 years. Preoperatively， there were 21 patients with mitral stenosis （MS）， 17 patients with mitral insufficiency （MI）， 30 patients with MS and MI， and 19 patients with tricuspid insufficiency （TI）. Another 200 patients with valvular heart diseases who underwent traditional MVR during the same period were included as the control group. There were 86 males and 114 females in the control group with their mean age of 49.4±13.2 years. Preoperatively， there were 85 patients with MS， 66 patients with MI， 49 patients with MS and MI， and 76 patients with TI. Hospital mortality， aortic crossclamp time， length of intensive care unit （ICU） stay， postoperative chest tube drainage， reexploration for bleeding and postoperative morbidities were compared between the two groups. Results There was no in-hospital death in the mini-MVR group. There was no statistical difference in hospital mortality， cardiopulmonary bypass time， incidence of reexploration for bleeding， postoperative arrhythmias， dialysis-requiring acute renal failure and wound infection between the two group （P＞0.05）. Aortic crossclamp time of the mini-MVR group was significantly longer than that of the control group. But postoperative mechanical ventilation time （10.2±3.1 h vs. 15.2±7.1 h， P=0.008）， chest tube drainage（92.0±28.0 ml vs. 205.0±78.0 ml， P=0.000）， blood transfusion （0.8±1.6 U vs. 1.9±2.1 U， P=0.006）， length of ICU stay （14.0±8.0 h vs. 26.0±12.0 h， P=0.003） and length of hospital stay （14.8±4.6 d vs. 19.7±3.2 d， P=0.006）of the mini-MVR group were significantly shorter or less than those of the control group. Conclusion The safety of mini-MVR is comparable to that of traditional MVR without causing higher postoperative morbidities， while the postoperative recovery after mini-MVR is better than traditional MVR.
Objective To investigate clinical outcomes of one-stage repair for patients with persistent truncus arter-iosus who missed optimal timing of surgery. Methods We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 12 patients with persistent truncus arteriosus who had missed optimal timing of surgery and were admitted to Wuhan Asia Heart Hospital between June 2003 and August 2011. There were 7 male patients and 5 female patients with their median age of 4.5 （0.6-14.0）years and median body weight of 23 （6-36）kg. All the patients underwent one-stage surgical repair. There were 9 patients with Van Praagh type A1，2 patients with type A2，and 1 patient with type A4 persistent truncus arteriosus. There were 2 patients with anomalous origin of coronary artery，2 patients with moderate truncal valve insufficiency，and 3 patients with moderate tricuspid valve insufficiency which required concomitant surgical repair. All the patients received preoperative right heart catheterization which showed severe pulmonary hypertension. The median pulmonary-systemic blood flow ratio （Qp/Qs ratio） was 2.42 （1.50-5.26），and median pulmonary vascular resistance was 8.1 （4-12） Wood units. All the patients showed a positive pulmonary vasodilator response to oxygen. Right ventricular outflow tract （RVOT） reconstruction was achieved using a valved conduit in 7 patients and a valved patch in 5 patients. Results There was no in-hospital death in this group. Three patients had transient pulmonary hypertensive crisis during postoperative intensive care and were healed after proper treatment. Early postoperative pulmonary artery pressure monitoring in all the patients showed that main pulm-onary artery systolic pressure/radial artery systolic pressure was 0.48±0.12. All the 12 patients were followed up for 48（12-91）months. There were 10 patients with New York Heart Association （NYHA） classⅠand 2 patients with NYHA classⅡ during follow-up. One patient received reoperation for residual ventricular septal defect and right ventricular failure.Two patients required long-term medication treatment for high pulmonary vascular resistance and right ventricular failure. The latest echocardiography during follow-up showed that average pressure gradient across RVOT was 21 （16-42） mm Hg in patients with valved conduit for RVOT reconstruction and 18 （10-28） mm Hg in patients with valved patch for RVOT reconstruction. None of the patients required reoperation for RVOT obstruction. Pulmonary regurgitation was less than moderate degree in all the patients. Two patients with anomalous origin of coronary artery didn’t have symptoms or electrocardiogram changes of myocardial ischemia during follow-up. Conclusion For patients with persistent truncus arteriosus who missed optimal timing of surgery， one-stage repair can achieve good early and intermediate clinical outcomes，but long-term follow-up is needed to observe truncal valve regurgitation and right ventricular function.