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BackgroundThe efficacies of tricuspid valve repair, risk factors for treatment failure and postoperative quality of life have not been thoroughly evaluated in patients with tricuspid insufficiency associated with rheumatic heart disease (RHD). We therefore reviewed our experience with ring and non-ring tricuspid annuloplasty for the treatment of functional tricuspid insufficiency (TI) in RHD.MethodsThis retrospective, follow-up study involved 74 RHD patients who underwent either non-ring annuloplasty (De Vega procedure; 34 patients, 45.95 %) or ring annuloplasty (40 patients, 54.05 %) along with concurrent mitral or/and aortic valve replacement. Operation time, cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic clamping time, intensive care unit stay and extubation time were recorded. Echocardiographic findings and Short Form (SF)-36 scores were compared between the two groups.ResultsIn hospital mortality and complications were similar in the two study groups (P = 0.6755). At 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and even longer after the operation, the Kaplan–Meier curve of freedom from mild and above recurrent TI showed significantly better efficacy in the ring annuloplasty group than the De Vega procedure group (log rank P = 0.0377). Risk factors for recurrent TI included high pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) and non-ring annuloplasty (PASP: hazard ratio = 1.52; non-ring: hazard ratio = 1.42). The mental component summary score at 1 year after the operation did not significantly differ between the two groups (P = 0.6446), but the physical component summary score was significantly better in the ring annuloplasty group (P = 0.0037).ConclusionCompared with non-ring annuloplasty, ring annuloplasty was associated with improved survival, decreased TI recurrence and higher quality of life in RHD patients undergoing tricuspid valve repair combined with mitral and/or aortic valve replacement.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the most important causes of mortality and affecting the health status of patients. At the same time, CVDs cause a huge health and economic burden to the whole world. Although a variety of therapeutic drugs and measures have been produced to delay the progress of the disease and improve the quality of life of patients, most of the traditional therapeutic strategies can only cure the symptoms and cannot repair or regenerate the damaged ischemic myocardium. In addition, they may bring some unpleasant side effects. Therefore, it is vital to find and explore new technologies and drugs to solve the shortcomings of conventional treatments. Nanotechnology is a new way of using and manipulating the matter at the molecular scale, whose functional organization is measured in nanometers. Because nanoscale phenomena play an important role in cell signal transduction, enzyme action and cell cycle, nanotechnology is closely related to medical research. The application of nanotechnology in the field of medicine provides an alternative and novel direction for the treatment of CVDs, and shows excellent performance in the field of targeted drug therapy and the development of biomaterials. This review will briefly introduce the latest applications of nanotechnology in the diagnosis and treatment of common CVDs.