Mitral valve repair artificial mitral valve has an elevated risk of stroke. Patients with mechanical heart valves who use warfarin for anticoagulation have to be on long-term anticoagulation therapy. This means they must go to the clinic and have a lab blood draw done, typically once a month but more frequently if the level needs to be closely monitored until it is in the therapeutic range. The therapeutic range for most adults with a mechanical valve is an INR of 2.5–3.5. Finally, artificial tissue valves will wear out – on average lasting between 10 and 15 years, requiring further surgery at an advanced
Mitral insufficiency mitral valve prolapse or atrial fibrillation. In general, medical therapy is non-curative and is used for mild-to-moderate regurgitation or in patients unable to tolerate surgery. Surgery is curative of mitral valve regurgitation. There are two surgical options for the treatment of MI: mitral valve replacement and mitral valve repair. Mitral valve repair is preferred to mitral valve replacement where a repair is feasible as bioprosthetic replacement valves have a limited lifespan of 10 to 15 years, whereas synthetic replacement valves require ongoing use of blood thinners to reduce the risk of stroke. There are two general categories of approaches to