Minimal and Micro-Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery

In recent years efforts have been made to reduce the impact of cardiac surgery on our patients. The advent of minimally invasive mitral valve repair techniques (either port-access or robotic-assisted) have recently been paired with promising long-term outcomes and these techniques are gaining popularity. Meanwhile, interventional cardiologists have been developing new techniques for catheter-based mitral and tricuspid valve repair (like transcatheter edge-to-edge repair and percutaneous ring-annuloplasty techniques). More recently, interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons joined forces in the development of hybrid techniques like off-pump mitral valve repair and replacement (for instance transapical neochord procedures and TMVR) and are operating side by side at the frontier of this new surgical field. Minimally invasive techniques (both port-access and robotic MV surgery) come with an obligatory learning curve that should be overcome without affecting our patient population. Simulator training may be an important tool to gain proficiency in these procedures

This Research Topic will give a complete overview of the current state of the art in minimally invasive and micro-invasive mitral valve surgery, including Pre and intraoperative imaging, currently available surgical techniques, training programs and long-term outcome.

Led by an international team of experts, the editors invite review type manuscripts along with reviews and novel case reports which add to the current literature.