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Maryland Heart Center

Mitral Valve Repair and Replacement

History of Mitral Valve Repair

Mitral Valve Surgery

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The development of the heart-lung machine in the 1950s paved the way for replacement of the mitral valve with an artificial valve in the 1960s. For decades, mitral valve replacement was the standard operation for a patient with a diseased mitral valve.

There are significant downsides to an artificial mitral valve. Infection of the prosthetic valve can occur, which is very dangerous. Patients with mechanical heart valves are required to take blood thinners for the rest of their lives and are at risk for bleeding complications. Artificial tissue valves will last between 10 and 15 years, placing the patient at risk of a second operation to replace the valve. The risk of stroke with an artificial mitral valve is significant (approximately 1 percent per year).

In the last two decades, some surgeons have embraced surgical techniques to repair, rather than replace, the mitral valve. These techniques were pioneered by a French heart surgeon, Dr. Alain Carpentier, who published a landmark paper in the mid 1980s entitled The French Correction.

The techniques of mitral valve repair include inserting a cloth-covered ring around the valve to bring the leaflets into contact with each other (annuloplasty), removal of redundant/loose segments of the leaflets (quadrangular resection), and re-suspension of the leaflets with artificial (Gore-Tex) cords.

View minimally invasive mitral valve surgery Webcast. Please note: this video may be graphic in nature.


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