The edge-to-edge technique was introduced into the surgical armamentarium of mitral valve repair in the early 1990s. From the beginning, it appeared to be an attractive approach because of its simplicity, reproducibility and effectiveness even in complex settings. Several institutions around the world adopted this surgical method in selected patients with mitral regurgitation due to different c...

Unlike the steady decline observed in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery rates over the last couple of decades [1], there has been a rise in non-congenital [2] and congenital heart valve operations through the last 10–15 years [3]. This upsurge can firstly attributed to the increasing prevalence of degenerative valvular heart disease due to the rising age of the population worldwide. S...

A lthough the incidence of mitral stenosis has declined precipitously in the Western world due to the reduced incidence of rheumatic heart disease, mitral regurgitation remains one of the most common valvular pathologies. Many patients affected by severe mitral valve disease are elderly with multiple comorbidities and are at high risk for traditional open surgical mitral valve repair or replace...

INTRODUCTION Ischemic mitral regurgitation can be defined as moderate to severe mitral leak precipitated by acute myocardial infarction. Valve repair is now the procedure of choice, but some cases can pose difficult anatomy. This review will illustrate current techniques for repairing complex ischemic mitral regurgitation. METHODS Most patients with ischemic mitral regurgitation have predomin...

The object of this report is to record our experience with six patients in whom urgent surgical measures becaniz necessary as a result of cardiac valve destruction following bacterial endocarditis. The patients constitute a group of six in a total of 200 valve replacements and have been distinguished from three patients in whom, as a result of bacterial endocarditis, valve replacement was under...

OBJECTIVES Anatomical repair seems an ideal method for the surgical treatment of the anomalous left coronary artery arising from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) in infancy. The medium-term outcome has been investigated for infants with ALCAPA following the restoration of a dual-coronary arterial circulation. METHODS Between April 1995 and July 2012, 23 infants with a median age of 4 months unde...

Objective To evaluate surgical treatment of chronic atrial fibrillation with ultrasound in patients with mitral valve disease, considering preoperative clinical characteristics of patients undergoing surgical procedure and follow-up in the immediate postoperative period, in hospital and up to 60 months after discharge. Methods We studied 100 patients with chronic atrial fibrillation and mitra...

Chronic mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most common cardiac valvular disease with more than 4 million people in the United States alone suffering from moderate or severe MR. Left untreated, chronic MR results in serious consequences. Surgical correction with mitral valve repair or replacement remains the mainstay of therapy for MR. Nevertheless, a large proportion of patients may not be offere...

Repair of the mitral valve is the treatment of choice for mitral valve regurgitation when the anatomy is favorable. It is well known that mitral valve repair enjoys better clinical and functional results than any other type of valve substitute. This fact is beyond doubt regardless of the etiology of the valve lesion and is of particular importance in degenerative diseases.This review analyzes t...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the chronotropic response to exercise during immediate and late postoperative period after atrial fibrillation and mitral valve surgical treatment by different techniques. METHODS Prospective controlled clinical study of 42 patients presenting chronic AF associated mitral valve disease, who underwent surgery by the techniques of pulmonary veins isolation (n=16), Modified...