Heart Valve Repair
Heart surgeons can repair heart valves several ways. These include separating fused valve flaps, removing or reshaping tissue so the valve can close tighter, and adding tissue to patch tears or to increase support at the base of the valve
Sometimes cardiologists repair heart valves using cardiac catheterization. In it, a long, thin, flexible tube is put into a blood vessel in your arm, upper thigh, or neck and threaded to your heart. Through it, your doctor can do tests and treatments on your heart. Although these procedures are less invasive than surgery, they may not work as well for some patients.
Your doctor can advise you on whether repair is appropriate, and on the best procedure for doing it.
To repair a poorly functioning heart valve. Properly functioning heart valves are essential to direct the flow of the blood thru the heart, and to maintain a normal workload for the heart. The most common heart valve surgically repaired is the mitral valve. The tricuspid and aortic valves may also be repaired.
Valve repair surgery is an open-heart procedure to fix a poorly functioning heart valve, often without the need for mechanical or biologic parts. Fused valve leaflets may be separated (called a Commissurotomy); calcium deposits hindering valve function may be removed; pieces of floppy/weak valve leaflets may be removed (called a resection); and holes or tears in valve leaflets may be patched.
Sometimes a mechanical (synthetic/man-made) ring may be necessary to reshape and tighten the valve opening.
In the Operating Room (OR), under general anesthesia.
The length of time surgery takes will depend on the valve being repaired, the repair that must be done, the patient's underlying medical condition, etc, but a good estimate is 2 - 3 hours.