Heart valve repair is a

cardiac surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to co ...

procedure, carried out to repair one or more faulty

heart valve A heart valve is a one-way valve that allows blood to flow in one direction through the chambers of the heart. Four valves are usually present in a mammalian heart and together they determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart. A heart ...

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). These ...

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__ Proce ...

. A mechanical heart valve is a replacement valve that is not itself subject to repair.

General

Valvuloplasty is the widening of a

stenotic valve A stenosis (from Ancient Greek στενός, "narrow") is an abnormal narrowing in 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'' ...

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 body. The deflated balloon catheter is positioned, then in ...

. 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 ...

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, a ...

heart valves A heart valve is a one-way valve that allows blood to flow in one direction through the chambers of the heart. Four valves are usually present in a mammalian heart and together they determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart. A heart v ...

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 (narrowing) or regurgitation (leakage) of the mitral valve.

Aortic valve repair

Aortic valve repair Aortic valve repair or aortic valve reconstruction is the reconstruction of both form and function of a dysfunctional aortic valve. Most frequently it is used for the treatment of aortic regurgitation. It can also become necessary for the treatme ...

is a surgical procedure 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. Th ...

disorders as an alternative to

aortic valve replacement Aortic valve replacement is a procedure whereby the failing aortic valve of a patient's heart is replaced with an artificial heart valve. The aortic valve may need to be replaced because: * The valve is leaky (aortic insufficiency, also known as ...

. 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") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

-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