Cost Analysis of Isolated Mitral Valve Surgery in the United States

In this analysis, the most important contributors to cost for mitral valve repair and replacement are preoperative patient comorbidities, most notably history of myocardial infarction and heart failure, emergent admission status, and postoperative complications. The variables in our model failed to account for a large proportion of the variability in cost. This would suggest that future analyses exploring differential procedure costs between hospitals must look for factors beyond patient baseline characteristics and postoperative outcomes.