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Question:
What causes fluid in the chest after mitral valve annuloplasty?
What causes fluid to build up in chest after mitral value repair with annuloplasty?
submitted by Charles from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 1/28/2013
Answer:
by Texas Heart Institute cardiovascular surgeon, Denton A. Cooley, MD
Charles, there is no simple answer to your question. There are many possibilities for fluid in the chest after this type of open heart surgery to repair the mitral valve. Fluid can build as a result of the reaction of the pleura; from having exposure to air and the trauma (although precisely carried out surgically) of the open chest; and the possibility of persistently elevated pulmonary venous pressures. This is a question that is best answered by the surgeon for the patient.
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Updated January 2013
