Cardiac rhythm and conduction disturbances in patients undergoing mitral valve surgery.

The occurrence and course of supraventricular rhythm and atrioventricular conduction disturbances were retrospectively compared in 206 patients with isolated mitral valve disease undergoing either valve replacement or ring annuloplasty (mitral repair) between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1986. The replacement and repair groups were the same size and had approximately equal numbers of patients in sinus rhythm and atrial fibrillation preoperatively. The type of mitral valve operation did not affect the short-term outcome in terms of cardiac rhythm. For both groups, the incidence of patients crossing from sinus rhythm to atrial fibrillation and vice versa on the pre-discharge electrocardiography was equal, and both groups had a low incidence of clinically significant atrioventricular block.