Tricuspid valve replacement: a five-year appraisal.

Organic disease of the tricuspid valve required surgery in 18% of all patients undergoing valve replacement over a five-year period. Differentiation of organic from functional disease is difficult and may be made only at open-heart surgery. The results of a series of 56 patients who underwent tricuspid valve replacement are presented; of these, 53 had organic disease. Operative mortality at the end of five years had fallen to 7% with significant clinical improvement in 79% of patients, a reduction in cardiothoracic ratio in 81%, and a low incidence of postoperative tricuspid incompetence.