Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 11/24/2009
Operative mortality associated with mitral valve repair for stenosis is 1–3%. The prognosis for restenosis (re-narrowing) is 30% at five years and 60% at nine years; additional surgery is required in 4–7% of patients at five years. Eighty to 90%...
of patients whose mitral valve stenosis was repaired by commissurotomy are complication free at five years after surgery.
Mitral valve repair for mitral insufficiency is the preferred approach because it preserves the valvular apparatus and left ventricular function. It also eliminates the risk of mechanical valve failure and the need for lifelong anticoagulation.
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This video includes echocardiogram information from a patient showing severe mitral valve prolapse and actual footage during repair of a mitral valve. This view is from inside the heart that has had all of the blood removed and diverted (not shown).
During a mitral valve repair, the patient's chest is opened along the sternum (A). The heart is connected to a heart-lung machine, and an incision is made into the right atrium, or upper chamber of the heart (B), exposing the mitral valve (C). A section of the valve is removed, and the area is repaired with sutures (D and E). A flexible fabric ring may be stitched to the outside of the valve to strengthen it, in a procedure called an annuloplasty (F). (Illustration by GGS Inc.)
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Other Information
Mitral valve repair is a cardiac surgery procedure performed by cardiac surgeons to treat stenosis (narrowing) or regurgitation (leakage) of the mitral valve. The mitral valve is the "inflow valve" for the left side of the heart. Blood flows from the lungs, where it picks up oxygen, through the pulmonary veins, to the left atrium of the heart. After the left atrium fills with blood, the mitral valve allows blood to flow from the left atrium into the heart's main pumping chamber called the left ventricle. It then closes to keep blood from leaking back into the left atrium or lungs when the ventricle contracts (squeezes) to push blood out to the body. It has two flaps, or leaflets.
Other Information
In 2005, an estimated 6,989,000 inpatient cardiovascular operations and procedures were performed in the United States; 4.1 million were performed on males and 2.9 million were performed on females.
From: American Heart Association
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