Mayo Clinic Study Sets Threshold for Valve Repair Surgery; Surgery Gives Normal Life Expectancy to Patients With Severe Mitral Regurgitation; Death Risk for Medically Treated Patients Is Five Times Greater.

Byline: Mayo Clinic

ROCHESTER, Minn., March 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- A Mayo Clinic study of 456 patients with mitral valve regurgitation that had not yet produced significant symptoms has established the first objective guidelines for when patients should consider valve repair surgery instead of continuing treatment with medications, according to findings published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

"We know from previous studies that patients with symptomatic mitral regurgitation are at increased risk of death, but for those without symptoms the picture has been murkier," says Maurice Enriquez-Sarano, M.D., the Mayo Clinic cardiologist who led …