Echocardiography for Intraoperative Decision Making in Mitral Valve Surgery-A Pilot Simulation-Based Training Module

Echocardiographic assessment of the repaired or replaced mitral valve intraoperatively involves making a high-impact joint decision with the surgeon, in a time-sensitive manner, in a dynamic clinical situation. These decisions have to take into account the degree of imperfection if any, the likelihood of obtaining a better result, the underlying condition of the patient, and the impact of a longer cardiopulmonary bypass period if the decision is made to reintervene. Traditional echocardiography teaching is limited in its ability to provide this training. The authors report the development and implementation of a training module simulating the dynamic clinical environment of a mitral valve surgery in progress and the critical echo-based intraoperative decision making involved in the assessment of the acceptability of the surgical result.