title: Minimally invasive surgical treatment of valvular heart disease.
abstract: Cardiac surgery is in the midst of a practice revolution. Traditionally, surgery for valvular heart disease consisted of valve replacement via conventional sternotomy using cardiopulmonary bypass. However, over the past 20 years, the increasing popularity of less-invasive procedures, accompanied by advancements in imaging, surgical instrumentation, and robotic technology, has motivated and enabled surgeons to develop and perform complex cardiac surgical procedures through small incisions, often eliminating the need for sternotomy or cardiopulmonary bypass. In addition to the benefits of improved cosmesis, minimally invasive mitral valve surgery was pioneered with the intent of reducing morbidity, postoperative pain, blood loss, hospital length of stay, and time to return to normal activity. This article reviews the current state-of-the-art of minimally invasive approaches to the surgical treatment of valvular heart disease.
authors: Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors: Andrew B
authors: AB
authors: Goldstone
authors: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California. Electronic address: joswoo@stanford.edu.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Joseph Woo
mesh_terms: D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*
keywords: aortic valve surgery; minimally invasive surgery; mitral valve surgery; valvular heart disease