Prospective Treatment Algorithm Guiding Repair of Severe Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation

Ischemic mitral regurgitation is a disease where the mitral valve is regurgitant, or leaking, as a result of changes in the muscle of the heart caused by coronary artery disease Ischemic mitral regurgitation, or IMR, is normally treated by repairing or replacing the mitral valve. Currently, we don't have very strong evidence showing which patients might benefit from mitral valve repair and which might benefit from replacement, and surgeons tend to repair or replace valves based on their preference or experience. Some surgeons, including Dr. Vincent Chan, the Principal Investigator, believe that the decision to repair or replace the valve should be based on specific measurements of the mitral valve. This study will randomly assign patients to receive either the current standard of care for ischemic mitral regurgitation, which is valve repair or replacement based on the surgeon's preference, or to have their treatment decided by a set of criteria called an algorithm. This algorithm will assign patients with certain mitral valve measurements to repair, and others to replacement. Patients will be followed for 12 months after surgery, to compare whether patients whose treatment was decided by the algorithm did better than patients whose treatment was decided by surgeon preference.