Aortic valve approaches in the era of minimally invasive cardiac surgery

AbstractThe concept of minimally invasive cardiac surgery has been gradually adopted world-wide since its inception more than 2  decades ago. Recently, catheter intervention has been used in the treatment of structural heart disease. Most notably, minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve implantation is now an established treatment option for aortic valve stenosis. There are three major approaches for minimally invasiv e aortic valve surgery: via median sternotomy, via the parasternal approach, and via the thoracotomy approach. All these approaches allow for a small skin incision and/or avoid full sternotomy. Moreover, several advanced variations with additional aortic procedures or totally endoscopic management h ave been developed. When considering each approach, low invasiveness must be balanced with safety, as surgeons broaden their insight of advanced medicine. Physical invasiveness is largely related to the surgical approach in minimally invasive surgery. We review the history and evolution of the diffe rent surgical approaches for minimally invasive aortic valve replacement.

Source: Surgery Today - July 23, 2019 Category: Surgery Source Type: research