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Ann Thorac Surg 2007;83:1381-1387
© 2007 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Original Articles: Cardiovascular

Improved Health-Related Quality of Life and Functional Status After Surgical Ventricular Restoration

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Anesthesiology, Karolinska University Hospital, and Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Accepted for publication November 13, 2006.

^_* Address correspondence to Dr Sartipy, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Anesthesiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm SE-171 76, Sweden. (Email: ulrik.sartipy{at}karolinska.se).

Background: Surgical ventricular restoration (SVR) has been shown to improve hemodynamics and survival among patients with coronary artery disease, left ventricular aneurysm, and heart failure. The aim of this study was to investigate functional status and health-related quality of life after SVR.

Methods: Over a period of 2 years beginning in March 2003, 23 patients with left ventricular aneurysm and depressed left ventricular function were included in a prospective study. Functional status and quality of life was analyzed preoperatively, 6 months postoperatively, and at late follow-up by assessment of New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class, 6-minute walk test, and the Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short Form.

Results: There was no early mortality. Before surgery, 17 patients (74%) were in NYHA class III to IV; and 6 months after SVR, 20 patients (87%) were in NYHA class I to II (p < 0.001). At late follow-up, (mean, 22 months postoperatively), all patients alive (n = 20) were in NYHA class I to II. Mean 6-minute walk distance increased by 41 meters (p = 0.06) at 6 months postoperatively and by 57 meters (p = 0.03) at late follow-up. Quality of life, assessed by the physical component summary score of the Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short Form, improved significantly (p = 0.04) at 6 months postoperatively. A significant and clinically relevant improvement in both physical aspects (+25%, p < 0.001) and mental aspects (+37%, p = 0.003) of quality of life was found at late follow-up.

Conclusions: Functional status and quality of life improved 6 months after SVR, and the improvement was sustained at late follow-up almost 2 years after surgery.

Related Article

Invited commentary

Gerald D. Buckberg
Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2007 83: 1387-1388. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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				G. D. Buckberg Congestive heart failure: Treat the disease, not the symptom Return to normalcy/Part II-The experimental approach. J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., October 1, 2007; 134(4): 844 - 849. [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. D. Buckberg Invited commentary Ann. Thorac. Surg., April 1, 2007; 83(4): 1387 - 1388. [Full Text] [PDF]