• Amihay Shinfeld, Yuan Shimin, Sergey Priesman, Vera Koman, Aram K Smolinsky, and Ehud Raanani.
• Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, affiliated to the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. amihaysh@hotmail.com
• Harefuah. 2007 Nov 1;146(11):837-40, 911.

BackgroundFollowing the introduction of endoscopic techniques to other surgical fields such as general surgery, gynecology urology and thoracic surgery, cardiac surgeons sought their own methods of using minimally invasive techniques.ObjectivesTo examine our operative and mid-term results of mitral valve surgery using minimally invasive video-assisted mitral valve surgery.MethodsFrom January 2000, 130 patients underwent minimally invasive cardiac surgery through small right thoracotomy, 72 patients underwent video-assisted mitral valve repair or replacement (52 repair and 20 replacement). Patients were selected for the procedure according to several inclusion criteria.ResultsIntraoperative transesophageal echocardiography revealed excellent functional results. There was one intraoperative conversion to mid-sternotomy. There were no mortalities and only one complication CVA that occurred 24 hours after surgery.ConclusionsThoracoscopic assisted mitral valve repair (via port access) has the potential to provide all the advantages of minimally invasive surgery: accelerates recovery, decreases pain, and maintains overall surgical efficacy, while avoiding the complications and pathology of midsternotomy. For appropriate patients, this is the method of choice in our department.

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