Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery

BACKGROUND: To reduce surgical trauma and the drawbacks associated with sternotomy, we performed robotically controlled, video-assisted mitral valve surgery, using either the port-access or the transthoracic clamp technique. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between September 1997 and September 2000, 221 patients (78 males, 143 females) underwent mitral valve surgery through a small right minithoracotomy using the port-access endovascular cardiopulmonary bypass system. Mitral valve exposure was facilitated with an endoscope attached to a voice-controlled robotic arm (AESOP 3000) allowing stabilization and voice-activated camera positioning. Twenty-six patients underwent mitral valve repair and 195 had valve replacement. In 197 patients, mitral valve surgery was the primary operation, while 24 were redo cases. Skin-to-skin mean operating time was 3.5 +/- 1.2 hours and aortic cross-clamp time was 58 +/- 16 min, mean intensive care unit stay was 22 +/- 7 hours and hospital stay 6.4 +/- 1.2 days. There was no re-exploration for bleeding. There was no late death or re-operation on mean follow-up of 16.4 +/- 12.2 months. Patients showed improvement in their NYHA functional class from 2.6 +/- 0.5 to 1.4 +/- 0.8 postoperatively. Outcomes were compared with those of our previous 220 patients who underwent mitral valve surgery with the median sternotomy approach. CONCLUSIONS: The use of video and robotic assistance in port-access mitral valve surgery not only minimizes the length of the incision, but also gives full visualization of the entire mitral valve apparatus. This approach provides comparable results with the sternotomy approach, as well as marked advantages of reduced intensive care unit stay. ,ower blood transfusion requirement, better cosmesis and earlier hospital discharge.