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Mitral Valve Replacement

Mitral Valve Replacement Heart valves are designed to control the direction of blood flow through the heart. The opening and closing of the heart valves produce the sound of the heartbeat. Mitral valve replacement surgery is used to replace a diseased mitral heart valve with a natural or artifical valve. How Mitral Valve Replacement Surgery Works Mitral valve replacement surgery is open-heart surgery that is done while the patient is under general anesthesia. An incision is made through the breast bone (sternum). Tubes are used to re-route the blood away from the heart to a heart-lung bypass machine to keep the blood oxygenated and circulating while the heart is being operated on. Diseased heart valves may be repaired or replaced. Replacement heart valves used for mitral valve replacement are either natural (biologic) or artificial (mechanical): Natural valves are from human donors (cadavers). Modified natural valves come from animal donors (porcine valves are from pigs, bovine are from cows) and are placed in synthetic rings. Artificial valves are made of metal. Natural valves used in mitral valve replacement rarely require life-long medication to prevent blood clot formation (anticoagulation), whereas artificial valves will require anticoagulation. Learn more about the Heart Center of Wake Forest Baptist and our procedures involving an mitral valve replacement.