title: Advances in heart valve surgery.
abstract: Heart valve surgery continues to evolve in a dynamic fashion. While the exact role of minimally invasive approaches still needs to be defined, progress has been made in the development of new bioprostheses and their durability. Most importantly, valve repair has been standardized for the mitral and introduced for the aortic valve with results that have been superior to valve replacement. Selection of the optimal procedure for the individual patient is now facilitated. In the future, a wider application of repair procedures and further improvements of biologic valves can be anticipated not only to influence long-term results but also the decision-making process for conservative or surgical treatment.
authors: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospitals, University of Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors: Matthias
authors: M
authors: Aazami
authors: Hans-Joachim
authors: HJ
authors: Schäfers
mesh_terms: D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000601:surgery*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis / Q000639:trends; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000601:surgery; D011474:Prosthesis Design
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials