What should I know before I have mitral valve repair or replacement surgery?

If you have to decide whether to repair or replace your mitral valve, you need to understand what exactly is wrong with the valve in the first place.

Transcript

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If you're a patient facing mitral valve surgery and trying to decide whether you need repair or replacement,

00:06

it's important to enter the discussion understanding what is wrong with your valve. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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There are certain conditions like mitral stenosis, which is most often related to rheumatic fever. Not as common as it once was, but still present.

00:29

If you have rheumatic mitral stenosis, replacement is almost always the best option, with some caveats that make repair occasionally feasible.

00:39

But most of the time, you would be facing replacement. And you should understand that going in. If you're a patient who has degenerative mitral valve

00:45

disease, which is characterized by loose, floppy leaflets, some of which are probably developmental in origin,

00:52

and some of this material tears, producing a leak, in that category, you should expect to hear repair described as the primary goal of an operation.

01:03

On the other hand, it would be misleading to say that repair is always possible even in that patient population.

01:10

Even though it's valves in that category are repairable 90%, 95% of the time, it's not 100%.

01:17

So replacement is always possible because obviously, the goal is to get the patient out of the operating room with a functioning valve.

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In between, it's a lot more complex discussion but has a lot to do with exactly what is wrong with your valve.