Minimally Invasive Heart Valve Surgery

Minimally invasive valve surgery represents a recent and significant advance in modern heart surgery. Indeed, many less invasive approaches for both the aortic and mitral valves have been developed in the past 2 decades. These procedures were hypothesized to result in less operative trauma, which might translate into better patient outcomes. However, this clinical benefit remains controversial in the literature. The aim of this review is to discuss the evidence surrounding minimally invasive heart valve surgery in the current era. A systematic search of the literature from 2006-2016 was performed looking for articles reporting early or late outcomes after minimally invasive valve surgery. Less invasive valve surgery is safe and provides long-term surgical outcomes similar to those of standard sternotomy. In addition, these approaches result in a reduction in overall hospital length of stay and may mitigate the risk of early morbidity-mainly post-operative bleeding, transfusions, and ventilation duration.