Prevention of Mitral Ring Dehiscence by a Simple Modification of Suture Placement

Abstract

Ring dehiscence is a serious complication after mitral valve annuloplasty, tending to occur primarily from the posterior annulus. The tension on the ring sutures during the cardiac cycle is one of the suspected reasons; in order to minimize this tension, we apply four additional pledgeted sutures positioned supra-annularly at critical hinge points and could achieve a marked reduction of annular dehiscence since.