{"id":1072,"date":"2021-04-22T17:15:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T17:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=1072"},"modified":"2023-09-27T19:30:28","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T19:30:28","slug":"minimally-invasive-mitral-repair","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/minimally-invasive-mitral-repair\/","title":{"rendered":"Surgeon Insights: Minimally-Invasive Mitral Valve Repair with Dr. Marc Gerdisch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For patients needing mitral valve repair surgery, a key consideration in selecting your medical team may be the surgical approach utilized to access the heart.\u00a0 With so many options available to patients, I wanted to answer several patient questions I recently received about minimally-invasive mitral valve repair surgery.<\/p>\n<p>To help you learn more, I interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Marc-Gerdisch-Indianapolis-Indiana.php\">Dr. Marc Gerdisch<\/a>, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/franciscan-health\">Franciscan Health<\/a> in Indianapolis, Indiana.\u00a0 Dr. Gerdisch is long-time supporter of HeartValveSurgery.com who has performed successful heart valve surgery on over 100 patients in our community.\u00a0 So you know, this video became an instant &#8220;patient-favorite&#8221; at YouTube. In just a few weeks, this video has been watched over 8,000 times.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wEhPbzxuBF0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings from Dr. Gerdisch<\/h2>\n<p>For patients with mitral regurgitation, the key learnings that Dr. Gerdisch shared during our interview are actionable and beyond helpful.\u00a0 For that reason, I wrote down several important points below.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Gerdisch is a heart valve expert who has performed over 4,000 heart valve repair and replacement operations.\u00a0 Dr. Gerdisch is so committed to the study, research and treatment of valvular disorders, his wife got him a license plate that reads &#8220;HRT VALV&#8221;.\u00a0 At HeartValveSurgery.com, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Marc-Gerdisch-Indianapolis-Indiana.php\">Dr. Gerdisch has over 100 patient testimonials.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Mitral valve disease is global term for anything that effects the mitral valve and changes the valve itself or the shape of the heart. Those changes, often in the\u00a0 architecture of the heart, can impact the performance of the mitral valve.\u00a0 The mitral valve can be compromised due to infection (endocarditis), disease (rheumatic), and calcification of the valve as patients age. The most common mitral valve disorder is a leaking mitral valve that is known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-symptoms-leaking.php\">mitral regurgitation<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Mitral valve prolapse is a precursor to substantial mitral valve disease which is relatively common.<\/li>\n<li>While symptoms (fatigue, shortness of breath, gaining fluid weight, chest pain, palpitations) can be triggers for incremental monitoring and treatment, they are not always obvious.\u00a0 The &#8220;insidious&#8221; nature of mitral valve disease progression is often confused for aging.<\/li>\n<li>Risks associated with mitral regurgitation can be an enlarged heart, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/atrial-fibrillation\/\">atrial fibrillation<\/a>, pulmonary hypertension, left atrium enlargement, and, most importantly, left ventricle damage.<\/li>\n<li>The ejection fraction is the fraction of blood that leaves the left ventricle when the heart squeezes. A normal ejection fraction is 55% to 60%.\u00a0 Patients with mitral valve regurgitation should have a higher ejection fraction because the heart is sending additional blood back out the left atrium.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Gerdisch considers the opportunity of timing mitral valve repair surgery as a <strong>&#8220;golden moment&#8221;<\/strong> for patients and their medical teams.\u00a0 When timed right, a mitral valve repair surgery can return a patient to normal life expectancy. Dr. Gerdisch states, &#8220;If you have mitral regurgitation and we fix it at the right time, you will live just as long as somebody who never had mitral regurgitation. That is beautiful.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Leaking mitral valves should almost always be repaired not replaced. A mitral valve repair procedure is one of the few procedures in medicine that return a patent to a normal life curve.\u00a0 A mitral valve replacement is a very good operation for damaged valves that will extend patient lives, improve hemodynamics through the valve, but there are risks associated with the replacement device as it is a foreign body inside the cardiac muscle.<\/li>\n<li>Finding a mitral valve repair specialist can be challenging for patients who are looking for an experienced surgeon and medical team.\u00a0 On average, a cardiac surgeon performs only five mitral valve repair procedures a year.\u00a0 In comparison, Dr. Gerdisch performs over 100 mitral valve repair surgeries each year.<\/li>\n<li>The most important consideration for a patient is NOT the incision made my a physician. Dr. Gerdisch states, &#8220;I would stress for every patient, the absolute most important thing is not the incision. It is a perfect operation. It is a perfect repair. It is a complete operation.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Minimally-invasive techniques have evolved over many decades of research and development specific to ports, camera utility, incision size, instrument capability and medical devices. The minimally-invasive mitral valve repair approach used by Dr. Gerdisch typically leverages one small incision on the side of the patient&#8217;s chest.<\/li>\n<li>The advantages of minimally-invasive mitral valve repair operations, according to Dr. Gerdisch, are the psychological benefits of a smaller incision, a faster recovery, accelerated mobility, and a shorter hospital stay.\u00a0 Some of Dr. Gerdisch&#8217;s patients leave the hospital on day 2 or day 3 after surgery.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Gerdisch has implemented a unique <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/rapid-recovery-protocol\/\">Rapid Recovery Protocol<\/a> that is minimizing or eliminating pain for patients.\u00a0 In particular, Dr. Gerdisch leverages the use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/cryoanalgesia-pain.php\">cryoanalgesia<\/a>. Here are several wonderful examples of Dr. Gerdsich&#8217;s patients who have benefitted from Franciscan Health&#8217;s Rapid Recovery Protocol.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jZ3x1dfS1o0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For patients with tricuspid valve disease, Dr. Gerdisch will often repair their leaking tricuspid valve during a mitral valve repair procedure using the same minimally-invasive approach.\u00a0 There are two important considerations for a tricuspid intervention.\u00a0 Dr. Gerdisch states, &#8220;We\u2019re looking for two things. We\u2019re looking for if the tricuspid valve leaks of course. We\u2019re also looking at the dimensions of the tricuspid annulus which is the fibrous structure that the leaflets attach to.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>The addition of a tricuspid valve repair does not add a significant amount of time or complexity to a mitral valve repair procedure if the operation is performed by a specialist.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/atrial-fibrillation\/\">Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm<\/a> that can lead to a 5X greater risk of stroke for patients, according to the American Heart Association.\u00a0 Up to 35% of patients with mitral valve disease have atrial fibrillation which is under-treated.\u00a0 Research shows that only 38% of mitral valve repair patients get an Afib treatment at the time of their mitral valve procedure. For that reason, Dr. Gerdisch performs concomitant procedures, using surgical ablation (also known as the Maze procedure), to treat atrial fibrillation at the time of mitral valve repair surgery.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Gerdisch&#8217;s top advice for mitral regurgitation patients are (i) determine if you can get a mitral valve repair and (ii) find a surgeon and medical team that you are comfortable and has extensive experience performing repairs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks to Dr. Gerdisch &amp; Franciscan Health!!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of our entire patient community, many thanks to Dr. Gerdisch for sharing his clinical experience and research with our community!\u00a0 Also, many thanks to the Franciscan Health team for taking such great care of heart valve patients.<\/p>\n<p>Related links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/cryoanalgesia-pain.php\">Cryoanalgesia &amp; Heart Surgery Pain: What Should Patients Know?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/rapid-recovery-protocol\/\">Top 5 Facts About Dr. Gerdisch&#8217;s Rapid Recovery Protocol<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/atrial-fibrillation\/\">AFib &amp; Heart Valve Disease Patient Education Center<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the hearing impaired members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of my video interview with Dr. Gerdisch below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"class_list":["post-1072","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-mitral-valve-repair"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1072"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3873,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1072\/revisions\/3873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}