UW Health Heart, Vascular and Thoracic surgeons perform mitral valve repair, a treatment for mitral regurgitation, the most common type of heart valve disorder.

The operation for mitral valve repair takes three to four hours. You will be asleep during surgery. Mitral valve repair is usually performed as traditional open-heart surgery. (Some patients may be eligible for a minimally invasive repair procedure, which uses small incisions in the chest.)

First, the surgeon makes an incision in the front of the chest, opens the breastbone, and exposes the heart. Blood from the heart is redirected to a bypass machine. The bypass machine does the job of the heart and lungs during the operation.

Valve Removal and Reconstruction

The surgeon then makes incisions in the heart to access the mitral valve. The surgeon removes the diseased portion of the valve, and reconstructs it using the surrounding natural tissue. A supporting ring may be inserted to help the valve maintain its shape. The specific technique used depends on the type of valve disorder you have.

 

When the valve is repaired (see photo, above) the surgeon shuts down the heart-lung bypass machine after the heart starts beating again. The surgeon then closes the breastbone and both incisions, and applies bandages to the incision sites.