Effect of Successful Edge-to-Edge Mitral Valve Repair on Ventricular Arrhythmic Burden in Patients With Functional Mitral Regurgitation and Implantable Cardiac Devices

Significant mitral regurgitation (MR) may be present in up to half of patients with heart failure (HF) and it is associated with adverse cardiac remodeling and myocardial stretch. These are potential triggers for ventricular arrhythmias (VA) in patients with HF, and therefore MR may enhance electrical ventricular vulnerability. Our aim was to evaluate VA burden before and after percutaneous mitral valve repair (PMVR) in patients with implantable cardiac devices. We conducted a prospective registry of all consecutive patients (n = 34, age 69.0 ± 12.2 years, 77% male) with significant functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) who underwent MitraClip implantation in 2 centers between June 2014 and July 2018. VA burden was defined as the total number of events during device follow-up before and after PMVR. Among patients presenting VA during follow-up before or after PMVR, device success at hospital discharge was related to a significant reduction in the incidence of Nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (VT, p = 0.002) and any sustained VT or rapid VT/ventricular fibrillation (p = 0.034). Regarding implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) therapies, successful PMVR was related to a reduction in incidence of either antitachycardia pacing or appropriate shocks (p = 0.045) and in the occurrence of any defibrillation shocks (p = 0.045). Overall, effective repair lead to a significant reduction in the VA burden, with a significant decrease in the occurrence of any VA (p = 0.004) and any ICD therapies (p = 0.045). In conclusion, device success after PMVR was related to a reduction in overall arrhythmic burden and ICD therapies in our cohort.