Evaluation of hemodynamic changes in patients with mitral valve replacement using dobutamine stress echocardiography

The aim of this study was to investigate the response of heart to stress according to the size of the prosthetic valve in patients who had undergone mitral valve replacement by using dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) and to evaluate the relationship between the size of the prosthetic valve and cardiac recovery-remodeling process. Thirty-nine patients, who had undergone mitral valve replacement were compared in terms of left ventricular diameters, systolic functions and cardiac mass indexes in order to investigate the effect of the mechanical valve size on postoperative cardiac remodeling in this longitudinal study. They were divided into three groups according to their valve size: Group 1 (valve size29 mm, n=17). Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square and one-way ANOVA tests to determine the statistical differences between the groups. The repeated measurements of two-way ANOVA test was used to analyze effects during long-term follow-up. Only Group 1 patients achieved a significant decrease in terms of left ventricular mass index and end-diastolic diameter (138.3+/-29.7 g/m2 vs 86.6+/-15.6 g/m2 and 5.1+/-0.5 cm vs. 4.4+/-0.4 cm, p