Tricuspid Valve regurgitation (leaking)

[williegrant1984]

Had mitral valve replaced about 13 years ago.

Now the tricuspid valve shows obvious signs of regurgitation with associated breathlessness (ECG and Echocardiogram)

Heard today about keyhole surgery but is this restricted to the Mitral Valve?

Has anyone had experience of Tricuspid repair/replacement? What is prognosis for second open heart surgery?

Thanks to all readers

[ILowe]

I see that nobody has replied, which means no one has experience. Sometimes there is discussion on this forum about heart valves, since AF is often linked to them.

I have had Mitral Valve replacement surgery. While the open heart version is a wonderful operation, I would still not want to have it again!! Therefore I am very interested in alternatives if it needs redoing.

1/ Keyhole surgery. The term is now bigger than that. There are heart operations using chest slits, and partial slitting of the sternum. When I googled it the reduced slits methods are being used on other valves. But, I get the feel that they are still being developed.

2/ Reduced slits methods do also have a higher risk in some ways. Basically, the margins are reduced. You need very competent surgeons. Part of the problem is the huge variations in the anatomy, the details, the location of vessels etc, that the standard anatomy books do not usually discuss. Now, with imaging, a surgeon can observe that and plan for it. But, reduced slits still give less margin for the unusual.

3/ Why consider an operation at all? Can you live with it? Is your valve deteriorating quickly? I ask because the following quote seems a common statement.

"Despite the fact that tricuspid regurgitation (TR) can result in significant symptoms, patients are rarely referred for isolated surgical repair, or replacement, and most surgeries are performed in the context of other planned cardiac surgery. In this article, we review the different causes of TR, the natural history of untreated severe TR, indications and timing for isolated TR surgery, indications for TR surgery performed at the time of left-sided valve surgery, and surgical approaches for correction of TR." icrjournal.com/articles/ind...

[JelBoyG]

Hello.

I had severe regurgitation of the tricuspid valve, a condition called ebsteins anomoly. I had the repair 2 weeks ago. Full surgery and am now recovering at home. As far as I am aware there is no keyhole surgery option for this operation. It is a pretty rare operation to undertake and there are only a few surgeons in the country that have the skills to repair. It will depend on the severity of the regurgitation regarding the decision to operate. I am please to say mine is now trivial.

Hope that helps, good luck.

Jeremy.