Transseptal Approach For Mitral Valve Surgery

One of the uncommon surgical techniques used for mitral valve surgery in selected cases is transseptal exposure through a right atriotomy. In this report surgical results of fifteen patients operated with this technique with isolated or combined mitral valve disease is presented. One patient with multivalvular disease died during surgery due to severe myocardial dysfunction. Though this method has been claimed to cause conduction system disturbances and afford insufficent exposure, our limited experience suggests that this method may be preferable in mitral and associated tricuspid lesions, cases having interatrial defects or reoperated mitral lesions.