Ministernotomy approach for surgery of the aortic root and ascending aorta

Different minimally invasive approaches have been proposed for cardiac surgery. Between those, the ministernotomy finds wide consensus for the treatment of the aortic disease, being both the upper reversed T and the upper J the mostly used type of incisions. The authors review the literature on the use of ministernotomy in the treatment of the ascending aorta and arch pathology. The scientific literature was reviewed by searching Medline, the Cochrane Library and the CINAHL database. A total of 1411 papers were found in Medline, 186 in the Cochrane database and 514 in CINAHL database; 50 papers were used to write the article; of which seven represent the most significant papers on the subject. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patients group studied, relevant outcomes, and the results of these papers are tabulated. The ministernotomy is gaining consensus among surgeons. The indication to surgery, initially restricted only to selected elective patients, is now extended to more complex surgeries, including both the aortic root and aortic arch, redo-operations and, in minor cases, to emergency patients. Furthermore, the use of ministernotomy in redo aortic surgery with patent left internal mammary artery (LIMA) to left anterior descending (LAD) artery is a promising alternative. However, the use of this technique is still limited to few institutions and there are still a limited number of studies comparing this approach to full sternotomy in a prospective, randomized fashion. Even with those limitations, from the review of the literature, it seems that ministernotomy approach for aortic root and ascending aorta surgery is a feasible alternative, showing some advantages compared to full sternotomy. Those advantages include: reduced postoperative bleeding and pain, lower risk of mediastinitis, better aesthetic results, and faster respiratory function recovery. This is true not only for first time surgery, but also, and especially, for redo cases, where the limited exposure will reduce risks correlated to the surgical dissection of redo surgery. The ministernotomy approach for aortic root and ascending aorta surgery could in the future be more extensively used, offering greater benefits to cardiac surgical patients.