[Modern mitral valve surgery]

At the beginning of the 20th century, Cutler and Levine performed the first successful surgical treatment of a stenotic mitral valve, which was the only treatable heart valve defect at that time. Mitral valve surgery has evolved significantly since then. The introduction of the heart-lung machine in 1954 not only reduced the surgical risk, but also allowed the treatment of different mitral valve pathologies. Nowadays, mitral valve insufficiency has become the most common underlying pathomechanism of mitral valve disease and can be classified into primary and secondary mitral insufficiency. Primary mitral valve insufficiency is mainly caused by alterations of the valve (leaflets and primary order chords) itself, whereas left ventricular dilatation leading to papillary muscle displacement and leaflet tethering via second order chords is the main underlying pathomechanism for secondary mitral valve regurgitation. Valve reconstruction using the "loop technique" plus annuloplasty is the surgical strategy of choice and normalizes life expectancy in patients with primary mitral regurgitation. In patients with secondary mitral regurgitation, implanting an annuloplasty is not superior to valve replacement and results in high rates of valve re-insufficiency (up to 30 % after 3 months) due to ongoing ventricular dilatation. In order to improve repair results in these patients, we add a novel subvalvular technique (ring-noose-string) to the annuloplasty that aims to prevent ongoing ventricular remodeling and re-insufficiency. In modern mitral surgery, a right lateral thoracotomy is the approach of choice with excellent repair and cosmetic results.