Minimal Incision Valve Surgery (MIVS)

Minimal incision valve surgery (MIVS) lets cardiac surgeons perform a range of minimally invasive procedures through small openings in the spaces between the ribs, eliminating the need for a full sternotomy. MIVS offers patients an option for valve surgery equivalent to traditional open-chest heart valve surgery.

Mitral valve disease is under-diagnosed and under treated in the United States. No medical treatments have been proven to prevent or delay the disease process in aortic valve leaflets, and severe aortic valve disease often goes untreated. Currently, both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients who meet ACC/AHA guidelines are untreated. Only 40 – 57 percent are being treated surgically today. Minimally invasive valve surgery (MIVS) can achieve great results, comparable to open chest valve surgery. MIVS also includes these additional benefits:

• Less pain
• Shorter hospital stay
• Faster recovery and return to normal activities
• Less scarring and improved cosmetic results
• Less risk of complications
• Greater satisfaction

With mitral valve, surgeons do one of two things to the valve:

Repair – Place a ring around the valve to help stabilize the valve leaflets (primary approach)

Replacement – Remove the damaged valve completely and replace with a new valve that’s either mechanical or tissue.

Depending on the severity of the regurgitation (backward flow of blood from a worn-out valve) a repair can be performed instead of a full valve replacement.

Here’s what to expect after heart valve surgery.

Your heart is a powerful muscle designed to keep blood moving through every part of your body. It pumps blood from the lungs, where it picks up oxygen, and delivers it to the rest of the body. When the blood returns to the heart after delivering the oxygen, the heart pumps it back to the lungs to pick up more oxygen. For this process to work efficiently, blood must move freely, and in only one direction. Your heart valves open to permit blood to move forward, and then close to prevent blood from moving backward. Blood is pumped through two valves as it enters the heart, and two valves as it exits. As the blood enters the heart, the mitral and tricuspid valves open and close to control blood flow between the upper and lower chambers of the heart. On its way out of the heart, blood passes through the pulmonary and aortic valves. Your heart and heart valves repeat this process about 219,000 times per day, 80 million times a year, which adds up to 5 or 6 billion times during the average lifetime.

Several things can go wrong with the heart’s hardworking valves. In about 5 percent of the general population, a valve wears out and begins to leak, or fails to open completely. When a worn-out valve fails to close properly or leaks, blood flows backward, and the heart must work harder to pump the same amount of blood. Most often, it’s the mitral valve that leaks. Another common problem with heart valves comes with age. Built-up calcium deposits harden and narrow a valve. This narrowing keeps the valve from opening completely, and reduces the amount of blood that can flow through. The risk of blood clots increases, and the heart has to work harder. This type of problem affects the aortic valve. Some types of infection may also lead to problems with a heart valve. The bacteria that cause rheumatic fever can damage the heart valves, and an infection called bacterial endocarditis can deform or damage heart valves. Sometimes, a person is born with a defective heart valve or even a missing one.