Studies Show Surgical Criteria Based on Male Anatomy Leads to Worse Outcomes for Women
Measures of dilation in the heart are based on male anatomy, leading to women being nearly three times more likely to go too long without important heart surgeries.
Two studies from Michigan Medicine researchers suggest that “women may receive heart procedures later due to surgical criteria based off male anatomy.”
Size thresholds surgeons use to determine whether to perform certain operations “do not consider smaller female cardiac structures,” which can result in delays. Size thresholds for surgical intervention tend to be absolute.
The first study investigated “thousands [of] mitral valve surgery cases between mid-2014 and 2023,” specifically in patients who experienced leaking from their tricuspid valve. Patients are recommended to have the valve repaired during the same procedure if their “aortic annulus is dilated beyond a size threshold of 40 mm,” but the results of the study found that “women were more likely to have severe tricuspid [leaking] than men but [were] less likely to undergo repair.”
The second paper assessed “patients who underwent spontaneous repair for acute type A aortic dissection.” Women who experienced dissection “had a smaller diameter of the ascending aorta than men but presented with a larger diameter compared to their body size.” The current size threshold for preventive repair is “the same across both sexes at 50 mm,” but women were “nearly three times more likely to experience dissection at sizes below that range.”
