Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 11/24/2009
The mitral valve can become diseased, preventing it from adequately controlling the direction of the blood flow between the left atrium and left ventricle. It also can become insufficient (regurgitant), letting blood flow backwards into the left atrium...
(upper chamber) from the left ventricle (lower chamber) during ventricular contraction (systole). The mitral valve also can become stenotic (narrowed), preventing the flow of blood from the left atrium into the left ventricle during ventricular filling (diastole). In mitral valve prolapse, one or more of the mitral valve's cusps protrude back into the left atrium during ventricular contraction. Mitral valve repair is performed to improve the function of the diseased valve so that it correctly controls the direction of blood flow.
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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 2006, 2,192 heart transplantations were performed in the United States. There are 257 transplant hospitals in the United States, 135 of which perform heart transplantations. (http://www.unos.org/)
From: Unos.org
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