If a mitral valve can be repaired rather than replaced, patients can avoid the need for blood thinners and decrease the chances of a stroke, which happen more often if a valve replacement is performed instead of a mitral valve repair.
Minimally invasive repair techniques are now routinely applied to the majority of patients affected by mitral valve disease with excellent functional and cosmetic results.
Mitral Valve Disease
Mitral valve disease typically causes two types of malfunctions and deformities of the mitral valve, mitral valve regurgitation and mitral valve stenosis. The graph below shows how the valves work in normal functions, and how the valves are affected by regurgitation and stenosis:
Mitral Valve Stenosis – In mitral valve stenosis the valve does not open as wide as it should, causing not enough blood to be pushed through the body and sever shortness of breath and lung congestion with any physical activity.
Mitral Valve Regurgitation – With mitral valve regurgitation, the valve leaks oxygenated blood back into the left atrium. This causes severe lung congestion and makes the heart’s action extremely inefficient.
In both of these cases, patients have very little energy and strength, cannot perform any physical activities without shortness of breath, and have a very limited life.
Mitral Valve Repair
Our minimally invasive mitral valve repair techniques allow us to repair or replace defective valves reliably and through a small chest wall incision, with less pain and bleeding, a quick recovery and excellent cosmetic results. Dr. Ciuffo performs the mitral valve repair with long, thin surgical tools and there is no need for bone cutting and a large incision.
Dr. Ciuffo can also perform redo mitral valve repair if a previous surgery has not been successful in fixing a leaky valve. Learn more and see in-depth videos and images of minimally invasive mitral valve repair.
Schedule Your Mitral Valve Repair
You can improve your quality of life in a minimally invasive setting, with significantly less trauma than traditional open heart surgery. Most of Dr. Ciuffo’s patients are out of the hospital within two or three days and back to normal life in just a couple weeks. Contact Dr. Ciuffo online or call our Heart Surgery Center at (330) 588-4676 for a second opinion or to schedule a consultation with Dr. Ciuffo.
