What is Mitral Valve Repair?
Mitral valve repair is a common and often preferred surgical treatment for a damaged mitral valve, which is one of the four critical valves in your heart. When the mitral valve is damaged, it often becomes a leaky heart valve, allowing blood to flow backward, which forces your heart to work harder.
The procedure is done to fix the existing valve so it can open and close properly again, rather than replacing it entirely. Since your own valve tissue is preserved, a successful repair often provides long-term results without the need for lifelong blood thinners that are often necessary with certain types of heart valve replacement.
How it's Done
Our surgeons use various techniques to fix the valve, depending on the specific problem. This can involve tightening the ring around the valve (annuloplasty), cutting, reshaping, or adding support cords to the valve leaflets, or patching holes. While some repairs require traditional open-heart surgery, the vast majority are performed at NewYork-Presbyterian using minimally invasive mitral valve repair techniques (like robotic surgery), which only require small incisions.
Who is a Candidate for Mitral Valve Repair?
If you have been diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation (a leaky valve) or, less commonly, mitral valve stenosis (a narrowed valve), you may be a candidate for mitral valve repair. Generally, you are considered a strong candidate if:
- Your valve is leaking significantly, even if you are not yet experiencing severe symptoms. Early intervention can often prevent permanent damage to the heart muscle.
- The valve structure is still relatively healthy and can be fixed by the surgeon. Repair is usually favored over heart valve replacement whenever possible.
- Your overall health allows for surgery. Our team of cardiologists and surgeons will thoroughly review your case to ensure that the procedure is safe and appropriate for you.
Our specialists believe that mitral valve repair should be attempted whenever technically feasible, and we are nationally recognized for achieving high rates of successful repairs.
What is Robotic Mitral Valve Repair?
Robotic mitral valve repair is a modern, highly advanced method of performing minimally invasive mitral valve repair. Instead of making a large incision down the center of your chest (like traditional open surgery), your surgeon operates through several small, keyhole-sized incisions on the side of your chest.
Using a sophisticated robotic system, the surgeon controls highly precise, miniature instruments and a high-definition camera. This gives the surgical team a magnified, three-dimensional view of your heart and the ability to maneuver instruments with greater flexibility than the human hand.
Is it safe?
Absolutely. At NewYork-Presbyterian, robotic mitral valve repair is performed by our most experienced surgeons who are national leaders in this technology. For appropriate patients, this approach has been proven to be as safe and effective as traditional surgery while offering significant benefits in recovery.
What Are the Benefits of Robotic/Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery?
Choosing a robotic or minimally invasive mitral valve repair approach for your heart valve surgery offers several important advantages for your recovery and quality of life:
- Faster Recovery: Since the breastbone (sternum) is not opened, the recovery time is drastically reduced. Most patients return to normal activities much sooner than with traditional open surgery.
- Less Pain and Scarring: Smaller incisions mean less trauma to your body, resulting in less post-operative pain and only tiny, more discreet scars.
- Reduced Risk of Infection: The small size of the incisions also helps lower the risk of infection after the procedure.
- Shorter Hospital Stay: Patients often leave the hospital days earlier than those who undergo traditional open-heart surgery.