Objective Influence factors of the stable warfarin dose in the early period after mechanical prosthetic valve replacement were analyzed to guide the anticoagulation therapy for these patients. Methods A total of 288 patients within 6 months after mechanical prosthetic valve replacement in West China Hospital were followed up and registered at outpatient department from July 2012 to April 2014, including basic information (name, sex, age, height, weight, etc.), general clinical data (cardiac function, heart rate, surgery pattern, etc.) and related data about anticoagulation therapy. The target international standardized ratio (INR) range was 1.60 to 2.20 and the acceptable INR was 1.50 to 2.30. The sex, age, height, body weight, body mass index (BMI), body surface area (BSA) and related clinical factors were analyzed to find the relationship with the dose of warfarin. Results Sex was found to have a significant effect on the stable warfarin dose (P<0.05). Women needed a lower stable warfarin dose than men during the early anticoagulation therapy. There was no significant difference in the stable warfarin dose of patients with different ages, rhythms, NYHA classification, surgery pattern and diseases before operation; but the stable warfarin dose was lower in the patients with radiofrequency ablation during valve replacement procedures than the patients with single valve replacement (P<0.05). There was an association between age, height, weight, BMI, BSA and the stable warfarin dose withR2 of 1.2%, 3.2%, 3.5%, 1.1%, 4.2%, respectively and they could explain 6.1% of variability in warfarin dose. Conclusion During early anticoagulation therapy in patients with mechanical prosthetic valve replacement, it is necessary to consider the effects of various preoperative factors, drug factors and demographic factors on warfarin dose. Even though there is an association between age, height, weight, BMI, BSA and the stable warfarin dose, which can only explain 6.1% of variability in warfarin dose, thus cannot guide the postoperative anticoagulation of these patients.
Objective To evaluate long-term clinical results in patients who underwent mitral valve replacement and suture tricuspid annuloplasty. Methods We included 401 patients who underwent mitral valve replacement and suture tricuspid annuloplasty in our hospital between January 2006 and March 2011. There were 309 females and 92 males at age of 17-71 (46.2±12.0) years. All patients were investigated by echocardiography at postoperative 5 years. The tricuspid valve procedures consisted of bicuspidization, modified Kay annuloplasty and leaflet repair according to the actual conditions. Results The patients were followed up for 5–10 (7.4±1.4) years. As compared with preoperation, the right atrium (RA, 7.6±13.0 mm vs. 49.3±13.2 mm), right ventrium (RV, 23.2±4.7 mm vs. 22.0±3.6 mm), left atrium (LA, 59.7±19.0 mm vs. 53.6±14.7 mm, left ventrium (LV, 49.3±8.6 mm vs. 47.7±6.2 mm), tricuspid of end-distolic diameters (TEDD, 35.9±5.7 mm vs. 32.8±5.9 mm) and tricuspid of end-systolic diameters (TESD, 9.4±5.7 mm vs. 26.5±4.9 mm) of patients decreased significantly at postoperation (P<0.01). As compared with preoperation, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF, 60.3%±8.9% vs. 61.7%±8.3%) and left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS, 32.6%±6.3% vs. 33.8%±5.5%) raised significantly at postoperation (P<0.01). As compared with preoperation, the constituent rate of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) improved significantly at postoperation (P<0.01). Conclusion Tricuspid annuloplasty adopting TEDD as a surgical indication is reasonable for patients with mitral diseases. Combined and individualized suture tricuspid annuloplasty can obtain better long-term results. It is needed to order aggressive diuretics treatment for patients with postoperative TR.