Modified technique for mitral repair without ring annuloplasty

Mitral valve repair is the procedure of choice to correct mitral regurgitation. Most operative techniques use an annuloplasty ring to provide stability and durability to the correction. We present a modification of existing repair techniques, without the use of an annuloplasty ring, in which plication sutures allow both annular remodeling and stability. Clinical and echocardiographic follow-up in our series of 60 patients with a mean follow-up of 29 months is presented. (C) 2003 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.