Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery Through Periareolar Approach

IntroductionSince the early 1990s, minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS) has evolved worldwide. It started with mitral valve procedures and then gradually expanded towards other valve procedures, coronary artery bypass grafting and various types of simple congenital heart operations. There has been a growing interest for MICS given the association of this technique with decreased pain, shorter hospital stay, accelerated recuperation and cost effectiveness (1, 2). Recently, better aesthetic results have also been sought without compromising the size of the surgical field and the exposure of anatomical structures. In response to this, a new type of approach known as periareolar incision has been developed over the last years (3-5). The aim of this study was to describe the authors' experience and to evaluate the feasibility of MICS through a periareolar approach.Learn more: http://www.ctsnet.org/article/minimally-invasive-cardiac-surgery-through-periareolar-approach