Crystalloid-based cardioplegia for minimally invasive cardiac surgery

With the ever-increasing popularity of minimally invasive (MI) cardiac surgery, procedures like aortic valve replacement, with or without concomitant aortic surgery, and mitral and tricuspid valve procedures are now routinely performed through a minimal-access partial upper sternotomy and right anterolateral small thoracotomy, respectively, in our institution. To have optimal visualization through a small incision, it is extremely important to reduce the number of instruments, retractors, and cannulae passing through the incision to a bare minimum and to avoid repeated manipulation of the operative field. Repeated use of blood cardioplegia to maintain myocardial protection can sometimes prevent the surgeon from executing the aforementioned measures. However, if adequate myocardial protection can be achieved and maintained by administering a single dose of crystalloid cardioplegia, it would help expedite the operation with greater ease. At our institution, myocardial protection during aortic valve surgery is achieved using either blood or crystalloid cardioplegia according to surgeon preference. However, crystalloid cardioplegia has become the standard myocardial protection strategy for performing MI mitral valve surgery. Our experience with crystalloid cardioplegia for MI mitral valve surgery is the focus of this article.