Heart Valve Repair Surgery
Heart valve repair is a procedure used to treat heart valve disease. Heart valve disease can be caused by either valve stenosis, valve insufficiency, or mitral valve prolapse. These are conditions that disrupt the flow of blood between the left ventricle and atrium of the heart.
Valve repair surgery is most often a solution for mitral valve disease rather than aortic valve disease, which usually necessitates valve replacement. Symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting spells, or heart failure may require surgical treatment for your heart valve disease.
If you’re suffering from a heart valve condition, contact an SSM Health heart and vascular specialist. They’ll take the time to discuss all of your health concerns, available procedures, their benefits and risks towards your personal health. Together, you’ll make a decision on how to proceed, giving you control in your health care decisions.
Candidates for Valve Repair Surgery
Valve repair is almost always the option chosen for patients who have either a leaking or narrow mitral valve. The repair consists of mending the diseased valve rather than replacing it entirely. Mitral valve repair can be performed through tiny incisions or robotically, making it less invasive and more precise.
What Happens During a Valve Repair Surgery?
Prior to surgery, you’ll be put under general anesthesia. During the repair, your SSM Health cardiovascular surgeon will tighten, cut, shorten, separate or reinforce the mitral valve. The procedure specifics depend on the form of valve disease you have, as well as your age, overall health, preference, and the condition of your heart valves.
There are three types of valve repair surgery:- Traditional valve repair
- Minimally invasive valve repair
- da Vinci mitral valve repair
Traditional Valve Repair Surgery
Traditional valve repair is an open-heart surgery procedure. While performed less commonly than the minimally invasive approach, it is still used when circumstances require it.
Minimally Invasive Valve Repair
The minimally invasive option is one of the top choices for nearly all valve repair procedures. With the minimally invasive approach, the need to crack open the chest to reach your heart is completely eliminated. Smaller incisions are used to access the heart, leaving minimal scars after surgery. This approach also reduces blood loss during surgery while also lowering your risk of infection and speeding up the recovery process.
Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Repair at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
SLUCare Specialists at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital perform minimally invasive heart surgery through small incisions in the chest, as an alternative to open-heart surgery. When the valve becomes impaired, and a surgical solution is needed, Mitral valve repair access the valve through a small two-inch incision in the chest to repair the valve. This method may also result in less pain and a quicker recovery for many people.
The mitral valve is one of the four heart valves and it controls the entrance of oxygenated blood from the lungs into the heart. When the valve becomes impaired, and a surgical solution is needed, mitral valve repair accesses the valve through a small two-inch incision in the chest to repair the valve.
Mitral valve repair is being used to treat a variety of conditions including rheumatic heart disease, myxomatous degeneration and valve infections that may disrupt valve function. Mitral stenosis results from limitation of valve leaflet excursion and mitral insufficiency will result if valve leaflets fail to close together. Mitral valve repair techniques can repair about 90% of leaking mitral valves.
A twelve-inch incision in the front of the chest is still the most commonly used approach for mitral valve surgery (also known as open heart surgery.) In a minimally invasive mitral valve repair, a two-inch incision is made on the right of the chest. Depending on the patient, these surgeries can take between two to four hours.
Patients between 30 and 50 years old typically have the best results from mitral valve repair. A mitral valve replacement in this age range would put the patient at risk of blood-thinner related complications and subject the patient to the possible complications of an artificial valve for many years to come. Since the risks associated with mitral valve replacement complications and complications of blood thinners develop as the number of years patient lives with the artificial valve, younger patients have an increased potential to develop these risks due to the longer expected life span.
Generally mitral valve repair success rates at discharge are approximately 93%, with a freedom from reoperation of 94% at 10 years. Similar results were found for the patients undergoing mitral valve repair for degenerative mitral valve disease. Additional benefits:
- Less use of Coumadin (blood thinner)
- Better preserved heart functions
- Less pain
- Shorter hospital stays
- Faster recovery
- Reduced risk of infection
- Smaller incision and less scarring
As with every surgical procedure, minimally invasive mitral valve repair does have its risks. Make an appointment with our heart and vascular team to learn more this procedure and whether it might be right for you. We’re here to answer questions, ease your concerns and help you decide about treatment.
Tricuspid Valve Repair & Replacement at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
The tricuspid valve separates one of the heart's two upper and lower chambers. When the tricuspid valve isn't working properly, it can interfere with the proper direction of blood flow and force the heart to work harder to supply the necessary blood to the lungs and the rest of your body. This is known as tricuspid valve disease.
Most tricuspid valve conditions are mechanical problems that cannot be adequately treated with medication alone and will eventually require surgery to reduce symptoms and the risk of complications, such as heart failure.
Tricuspid valve disease is often caused by a heart defect present at birth (congenital heart disease) and may require immediate medical attention in infants. For others, tricuspid valve disease may not cause any signs or symptoms for many years, if at all. Some people may experience pulsations in the neck, abdominal or chest pain, shortness of breath with activity, fatigue or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia).
- Smaller incisions
- Less pain after the surgery
- Less blood transfusion
- Shorter hospital stay
- Faster recovery
- Increased patient acceptance
- Better cosmetic results
As with every surgical procedure, minimally invasive tricuspid valve repair and replacement does have its risks. Make an appointment with our heart and vascular team to learn more this procedure and whether it might be right for you. We’re here to answer questions, ease your concerns and help you decide about treatment.
da Vinci Mitral Valve Repair
This minimally invasive surgical technique allows surgeons to more precisely tie knots and reshape disease valves. It provides more exact visualization that is incomparable to most other methods. It also has been shown to drastically lower the risk for surgical complications.
At SSM Health, our team of nationally recognized cardiothoracic surgeons have expertly performed minimally invasive valve repairs for more than a decade. These procedures involve fewer and smaller incisions, leaving limited scarring.
SSM Health’s heart and vascular specialists work closely with you to assess your symptoms and overall condition. From there, you’ll work together to determine the right course of treatment.