{"id":2860,"date":"2022-11-14T20:19:36","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T20:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=2860"},"modified":"2025-04-22T15:52:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T15:52:40","slug":"mitral-valve-myths","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/mitral-valve-myths\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 6 Mitral Valve Surgery Myths Busted!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Patients diagnosed with mitral valve disease are often confused and misinformed about how to get the best, long-term surgical outcome. To make matters worse, many primary care physicians and cardiologists are not up-to-date about the latest research and technologies used to fix defective mitral valves.<\/p>\n<p>To examine and debunk six common myths about mitral valve surgery, I was very lucky to host a &#8220;Surgeon Roundtable&#8221; with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Michael-Acker-Philadelphia-Pennsylvania.php\">Dr. Michael Acker<\/a>, Dr. Pavan Atluri and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Michael-Ibrahim-Philadelphia-Pennsylvania.php\">Dr. Michael Ibrahim<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/penn-medicine\">Penn Medicine<\/a> in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.\u00a0 During their extraordinary careers, these leading cardiac surgeons have performed over 6,000 heart valve operations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w3pehiszoZY?rel=0\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings About Mitral Valve Surgery Myths<\/h2>\n<p>In this surgeon roundtable, Dr. Acker, Dr. Atluri and Dr. Ibrahim touch on many great points about mitral valve surgery. Here are the highlights I wrote down following our discussion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Myth #1 &#8211; Asymptomatic Mitral Valve Disease Patients Do NOT Need An Intervention.\u00a0 Dr. Acker indicates there is significant research and studies that prove asymptomatic patients with mitral regurgitation have better outcomes when a surgical intervention is performed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2872 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/penn-medicine-cardiac-surgeons.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Michael Acker, Dr. Pavan Atluri, Dr. Michael Ibrahim\" width=\"650\" height=\"363\" \/>Dr. Michael Acker, Dr. Pavan Atluri, Dr. Michael Ibrahim (Penn Medicine)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Unfortunately, some physicians and cardiologists are not aware of the fact that symptoms are not required (i) for mitral valve disease to cause significant damage to the cardiac muscle and (ii) to warrant an intervention.<\/li>\n<li>According to Dr. Acker, asymptomatic patients who do not get treatment are at risk for heart failure and decreased survival.\u00a0 Dr. Acker states, &#8220;It\u2019s been shown now for about 15 years, after landmark papers, the patients that are completely asymptomatic but have severe mitral insufficiency must have some intervention in order to minimize their chances of going on to heart failure. In fact, in well done, large studies, it\u2019s been shown that patients that are asymptomatic with severe MR that are just followed, their survival is less than patients that have interventions.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2874 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/mitral-regurgitation-myth.jpg\" alt=\"Mitral Regurgitation Leaking Heart Valve\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mitral valve repair for mitral regurgitation &#8211; not mitral valve replacement &#8211; is the optimal surgical intervention for patients.<\/li>\n<li>Myth #2 &#8211; Patients With Mitral Valve Disease Who Are Either Elderly Or Sick CANNOT Be Operated On.\u00a0 According to Dr. Acker, this is simply not true. &#8220;That is a common held belief among patients, among cardiologists, and among internists, that if the patients are elderly or sick, specifically lung disease, kidney disease, liver disease, frailty, cachectic, that they are too high-risk to undergo mitral valve surgery,&#8221; states Dr. Acker. &#8220;That\u2019s just simply not true. In centers of excellence that do this all the time and have highly functional teams, we can get the high-risk through these operations, treat their mitral valve disease, and restore them to a quality of life they seek.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Myth #3 -Mitral Valve Surgery SHORTENS Patient Life Expectancy.\u00a0 As Dr. Ibrahim suggests this is a common misconception among patients.\u00a0 However, traditional or minimally invasive mitral valve surgery can actually extend a patient&#8217;s life. &#8220;We are lucky to live in an age where mitral valve surgery can restore normal life survival,&#8221; states Dr. Ibrahim. &#8220;In good hands, a mitral valve repair should leave you living as long as you would\u2019ve if you had no disease and feeling as well as you can and doing the things that you love doing.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2875 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/open-heart-robotic-surgery.jpg\" alt=\"Open Heart Robotic Diagram Incision\" width=\"650\" height=\"363\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Myth #4 &#8211; Robotic Mitral Valve Repair Surgery Is NOT An Open-Heart Operation. During our interview, Dr. Atluri, who is a robotic mitral valve repair specialist, indicated that robotic mitral valve surgery is an open-heart procedure. Dr. Atluri states, &#8220;I can assure you that it is still very much an open-heart operation. In fact, we\u2019re doing the same operation we would do through a traditional sternotomy, through a smaller incision. The patients do benefit from this. They spend less time in the hospital. They recover quicker, get back to life faster.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2876 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/robotic-mitral-valve-repair-patient-benefits.jpg\" alt=\"Robotic Mitral Valve Repair Patient Benefits\" width=\"650\" height=\"364\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Atluri suggests there are several questions that patients should ask their potential robotic mitral valve repair surgeon given the complexity of the procedure. Those questions include &#8220;How many have they done?&#8221;, &#8220;How many do they do on an annual basis?&#8221;, &#8220;What are their outcomes?&#8221;, &#8220;How often are they able to repair the mitral valve with good long-term durability?&#8221;, and &#8220;How long does it take them to do it?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Myth #5 &#8211; Atrial fibrillation (AFib) CANNOT Be Treated During A Robotic Mitral Valve Repair. Dr. Ibrahim refuted this myth and confirmed that AFib can be treated during a robotic mitral valve repair surgery. &#8220;I routinely perform atrial fibrillation operations, including the Cox-Maze IV. Especially important to know that we close the left atrial appendage, which is what reduces the stroke risk, and patients are able to return to their normal lives without needing blood thinners in the long-term, through a very small robotic incision.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2878 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/atrial-fibrillation-electrical-diagram-chest.jpg\" alt=\"Atrial Fibrillation Electrical Heart Diagram\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Myth #6 &#8211; The MitraClip Is NOT Effective for Low-Risk Patients.\u00a0 Given his direct involvement in the use and research of the MitraClip for mitral regurgitation therapy, Dr. Atluri indicated that physicians currently do not know whether-or-not this is a myth. Dr. Atluri states, &#8220;I\u2019m not sure whether that\u2019s a true or false &#8211; whether that truly is a myth or not. We won\u2019t know for some time. It might be five-plus years before we have that answer, given that we\u2019re waiting on two key clinical trials which are attempting to address MitraClip versus surgery in lower-risk patients.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks Dr. Acker, Dr. Atluri, Dr. Ibrahim &amp; Penn Medicine!<\/h2>\n<p>Many thanks to Dr. Acker, Dr. Atluri and Dr. Ibrahim for taking time away from their very busy practices to debunk these mitral valve surgery myths! I\u2019d like to thank Penn Medicine for taking care of so many patients in our community including Patricia Garcia, Michael Casey, and Theresa Gusset who had successful heart valve operations at Penn Medicine.<\/p>\n<p>Related Articles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/future-michael-acker-md\/\">The Future of Heart Valve Surgery with Dr. Michael Acker<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/ross-procedure-reoperations\/\">Surgeon Q&amp;A: Ross Procedure Reoperations with Dr. Michael Ibrahim<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the deaf and hard of hearing members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of this surgeon roundtable 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":[12],"class_list":["post-2860","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-mitral-regurgitation"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2860","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=2860"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5520,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2860\/revisions\/5520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}