Heart valve repair is a cardiac surgery procedure, carried out to repair one or more faulty

heart valve A heart valve is a biological one-way valve that allows blood to flow in one direction through the chambers of the heart. A mammalian heart usually has four valves. Together, the valves determine the direction of blood flow through the heart. Hea ...

s. In some

valvular heart disease Valvular heart disease is any cardiovascular disease process involving one or more of the four valves of the heart (the aortic and mitral valves on the left side of heart and the pulmonic and tricuspid valves on the right side of heart). The ...

s repair where possible is preferable to

valve replacement Valve replacement surgery is the replacement of one or more of the heart valves with either an artificial heart valve or a bioprosthesis ( homograft from human tissue or xenograft e.g. from pig). It is an alternative to valve repair. __TOC__ ...

. A

mechanical heart valve An artificial heart valve is a one-way valve implanted into a person's heart to replace a heart valve that is not functioning properly (valvular heart disease). Artificial heart valves can be separated into three broad classes: mechanical hear ...

is a replacement valve that is not itself subject to repair.

General

Valvuloplasty is the widening of a stenotic valve using a

balloon catheter A balloon catheter is a type of "soft" catheter with an inflatable "balloon" at its tip which is used during a catheterization procedure to enlarge a narrow opening or passage within the Human body, body. The deflated balloon catheter is position ...

. Types include: * Aortic valvuloplasty in repair of a stenotic aortic valve *

Mitral valvuloplasty Mitral stenosis is a valvular heart disease characterized by the narrowing of the opening of the mitral valve of the heart. It is almost always caused by rheumatic valvular heart disease. Normally, the mitral valve is about 5 cm2 during di ...

in the correction of an uncomplicated mitral

Valvulotomy

Commissurotomy A commissurotomy () is a surgical incision of a commissure in the body, as one made in the heart at the edges of the commissure formed by cardiac valves, or one made in the brain to treat certain psychiatric disorders. Patients with scleroderma, ...

heart valves A heart valve is a biological one-way valve that allows blood to flow in one direction through the chambers of the heart. A mammalian heart usually has four valves. Together, the valves determine the direction of blood flow through the heart. Hea ...

is called a

valvulotomy A valvulotomy, valvotomy,TheFreeDictionary > valvotomyCiting: WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc. valvuloplasty, or valvoplasty is a procedure used in heart valve surgery that consists of making ...

By valve

Mitral valve repair

''Mitral valve repair'' is mainly used to treat

stenosis Stenosis () is the abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure such as foramina and canals. It is also sometimes called a stricture (as in urethral stricture). ''Stricture'' as a term is usually used when narrowing ...

(narrowing) or regurgitation (leakage) of the

mitral valve The mitral valve ( ), also known as the bicuspid valve or left atrioventricular valve, is one of the four heart valves. It has two Cusps of heart valves, cusps or flaps and lies between the atrium (heart), left atrium and the ventricle (heart), ...

. A mitral balloon valvuloplasty enlarges the valve opening to allow greater oxygenated blood flow into the left ventricle, and since severe mitral regurgitation can be a major complication, degrees of stenosis, regurgitation, and valve anatomical features are taken into consideration before the procedure.

Aortic valve repair

Aortic valve repair is a

surgical procedure Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

used to correct some

aortic valve The aortic valve is a valve in the heart of humans and most other animals, located between the left ventricle and the aorta. It is one of the four valves of the heart and one of the two semilunar valves, the other being the pulmonary valve. ...

disorders as an alternative to

aortic valve replacement Aortic valve replacement is a cardiac surgery procedure whereby a failing aortic valve is replaced with an artificial heart valve. The aortic valve may need to be replaced because of aortic regurgitation (back flow), or if the valve is narro ...

. Aortic valve repair is performed less often and is more technically difficult than

mitral valve repair Mitral valve repair is a cardiac surgery procedure performed by cardiac surgeons to treat stenosis (narrowing) or regurgitation (leakage) of the mitral valve. The mitral valve is the "inflow valve" for the left side of the heart. Blood flows f ...

. There are two surgical techniques of aortic-valve repair: * The Reimplantation-Technique (

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

-Procedure) * The Remodeling-Technique (Yacoub-Procedure)

Tricuspid valve repair

Tricuspid valve repair is used to correct

tricuspid regurgitation Tricuspid regurgitation (TR), also called tricuspid insufficiency, is a type of valvular heart disease in which the tricuspid valve of the heart, located between the right atrium and right ventricle, does not close completely when the right ventr ...

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History

The first two percutaneous ultrasound-guided fetal balloon valvuloplasties, a type of ''in utero'' surgery for severe

obstruction, were reported in 1991.

References

{{Cardiac_surgery Cardiac surgery Diagnostic cardiology