2 | METHODS
A retrospective research was conducted to identify all consecutive patients submitted to TVS at the Hospital Santa Cruz, between January 2007 and December 2016. The initial population included 142 patients. Patients with congenital heart diseases (3), active endocarditis (5), emergency surgery (2) or concomitant coronary artery disease (24) were excluded. These exclusion criteria were selected a priori . Therefore, the study population consisted of 108 patients operated during a 10 year interval.