Mitral repair and the robot: a revolutionary tool or marketing ploy?

In this review, we discuss the current evidence supporting each minimally invasive mitral repair approach and their associated controversies.

Current evidence demonstrates that minimally invasive mitral repair techniques yield similar mitral repair results to conventional sternotomy with the benefits of shorter hospital stay, quicker recovery, better cosmesis and improved patient satisfaction. Despite this, broad adoption of minimally invasive mitral repair is still not achieved. Two main approaches of minimally invasive mitral repair exist: endoscopic mini-thoracotomy and robotic-assisted approaches.

Both minimally invasive approaches share many commonalities; however, most centres are strongly polarized to one approach over another creating controversy and debate about the most effective minimally invasive approach.