Clinical Updates on Heart Valve Repair or Replacement Surgery

Dear Colleagues,

Valve repairs, rather than replacements, have gained wide attention and are being increasingly adopted whenever such an approach is safe and feasible. In selected cases, valve surgeries are increasingly being performed with minimally invasive techniques that earlier were associated with limited surgical incision only. Nowadays, “minimally invasive” includes thoracoscopic, transcatheter, robotic, etc. Valve surgeries are performed faster, maintaining the durability of repairs and safety of the sternotomy approach. At the same time, they allow patients’ early recovery, more effective rehabilitation, and lower morbidity; in some higher risk individuals, these benefits may translate to lower mortality as well.

In this Special Issue, you are invited to share your experience with advancements in the field of valvular surgery, with a particular focus on:

• Diagnosis and planning: preoperative and intraoperative imaging;
• Training in minimally invasive valve surgery;
• Novel techniques including transcatheter-, robotic-, beating heart-, minimized ECC, and hybrid approaches to both isolated and combined valve surgery;
• Procedural workflow and procedural challenges;
• Tackling “hostile” anatomy in a minimally invasive setting;
• Minimally invasive surgery for complex valve scenarios;
• Postoperative care, safety, and patients’ outcomes.

Dr. Mariusz Kowalewski
Guest Editor

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