Baseline characteristics:
175 consecutive patients (61.2% male) with symptomatic (100% NYHA
functional class > II), moderate-to-severe or severe MR
(PISA: 0.8±0.2 cm, VC: 0.8±1.2 cm, EROA: 0.5±0.3 cm2,
RegVol: 51.1±19.7 ml) were included. 40% (n=70) of the patients showed
degenerative MR (DMR), 42.8% (n=75) of patients had functional MR
(FMR), and 17.2% (n=30) of patients had a mixed etiology. At baseline,
all patients were on guideline-directed medical heart-failure therapy or
device therapy, if needed. All patients were classified as inoperable or
at a high surgical risk by the heart team owing to advanced
comorbidities (Logistic EuroScore: 17.8±5.2%), advanced age (mean age:
81.2±8.2 years) and frailty assessed by clinicians’ estimations.
Concerning the baseline demographical and clinical characteristics,
there were no statistically significant differences between the groups.
Of note, the serum level of NT-proBNP was more elevated in group 2 than
group 1, but without reaching the level of statistical significance
(4121.9±3955 pg/ml vs 6121.5±8864.7 pg/ml, p=0.1). The baseline
demographical and clinical characteristics are presented inTable 1 .
In the overall cohort, baseline echocardiography showed a relevant
left-ventricular (LV) dilation (end-diastolic volume [LV-EDV]:
164.7±68.3 ml, end-systolic volume [LV-ESV]: 96.2±58.8 ml) with a
decreased LV ejection fraction (LV-EF: 44.7±16.3%). There was no
relevant mitral valve stenosis observed at baseline (1.5±1.1 mmHg).
Furthermore, we found increased RVSP (45.4±14.8 mmHg) as a sign of
pulmonary hypertension at baseline. The baseline echocardiographic
parameters were comparable between the groups (Table 2).