Medical Therapy versus Surgical Therapy in Patients with Prosthetic Valve Dysfunction

Background- In this study, the results of medical therapy and surgical therapy were compared in patients with prosthetic valve dysfunction referring to a training hospital between 2001 and 2011. Methods and Materials- In this case-series study, 40 patients with prosthetic valve dysfunction referring to a training hospital between 2001 and 2011 were enrolled. Thirty-one subjects had left-side involvement and 9 subjects had right-sided disease. In each group, some subjects received medical therapy and some were treated with surgery and the results and side effects were compared between the two groups. Results- In this study, all confounding factors in the two groups were matched (p value < 0.05). There were no significant differences as regards clinical symptoms, echocardiographic findings, and side effects between the two groups (p value > 0.05). Conclusion- It may be concluded that both medical therapy and surgical therapy are almost equally effective in the treatment of prosthetic valve dysfunction.