SURGICAL TREATMENT IN CONGENITAL AND ACQUIRED PEDIATRIC MITRAL VALVE DISEASES: A SEVENTEEN-YEAR EXPERIENCE

Mitral Valve pathologies in the pediatric setting have been considered since the arousal of modern pediatric cardiac surgery, as one of the most demanding and challenging scenarios due to the difficult anatomy in relationship with the growth of the patient’s organ and therefore the inappropriate and unclear technical indications suggested by the still poor literature. Whether a mitral valve repair technique or a mitral valve replacement as well as new hybrid techniques should be promoted is yet to define and the first aim of this study.