Ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) affects 1.2 to 2.1 million patients in the United States, with more than 400,000 patients having moderate-to-severe MR.  Chronic ischemic MR of 2+ severity discovered at cardiac catheterization for symptomatic coronary artery disease has a 1-year mortality of approximately 17% and the one year mortality for 3+ and 4+ ischemic MR is approximately 40%.

Ischemmic MR is usually managed with mitral annuloplasty alone.  However, the need for surgical therapy and the type of surgical therapy remains unclear.  For instance, the type of annuloplasty (flexible vs. rigid, complete vs. incomplete) is controversial and the role of surgical remodeling with devices including the Acorn CorCap and Coapsys is unclear.