Microinvasive mitral valve surgery: Current status and status quo

Surgical mitral valve repair, performed either through median sternotomy or minimal invasive approach, presents the gold standard treatment for degenerative mitral valve disease. In dedicated centres, high repair and low complication rates have been established with excellent valve repair durability. Recently, new techniques have been introduced, that allow mitral valve repair to be performed through small surgical incisions and while avoiding cardio-pulmonary bypass. These new techniques, however, conceptually differ significantly when compared to surgical repair and it remains questionable whether they are capable of reproducing the results of surgical treatment.