New York– A structural heart valve abnormality may significantly raise the risk of developing life-threatening heart rhythm disorders, even after corrective surgery, according to a new study from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
The condition, known as mitral annular disjunction (MAD), was shown to increase the risk of ventricular arrhythmias—a severe type of abnormal heart rhythm that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.
Published in the European Heart Journal, the study found that the risk of arrhythmias remains elevated even after successful valve surgery.
MAD is frequently linked to mitral valve prolapse—a condition affecting about 2.5 percent of the population, in which the mitral valve does not close properly. This can cause blood to flow backward into the heart, potentially leading to heart failure and irregular heartbeats. Common symptoms include shortness of breath and palpitations.
The study examined 599 patients with mitral valve prolapse who underwent surgery at Karolinska University Hospital between 2010 and 2022. Researchers found that individuals with MAD were more likely to be female and, on average, eight years younger than those without the condition. They also had more severe mitral valve disease.
Notably, despite successful surgical correction, patients with preoperative MAD had more than triple the risk of developing ventricular arrhythmias during a five-year follow-up period, compared to those without MAD.
“Our findings highlight the importance of long-term monitoring for patients with MAD, even after apparently successful surgery,” said Dr. Bahira Shahim, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Karolinska Institutet.
Researchers plan to further investigate whether MAD leads to lasting changes in the heart muscle or may indicate an underlying cardiomyopathy—an undiagnosed heart muscle disorder. (Source: IANS)
