Minimally Invasive Concomitant Aortic And Mitral Valve Surgery - Initial Experience Of A Single Centre.

INTRODUCTION: Valve surgery through a median sternotomy has been the standard approach, but in the past decade various minimally invasive procedures have gained increasing traction among physicians and patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We present a series of three patients submitted to minimally invasive combined aortic and mitral valve surgery, performed through right lateral thoracotomy. RESULTS: We report no postoperative complication or mortality. Mean length of stay was 5 days, with a self-reported pain score 2/5 (mild/annoying pain). CONCLUSIONS: We report our initial experience, describing surgical technique and postoperative results, showing this technique to be safe, reproductible and comparable to conventional surgery.