Preprocedural Computed Tomography Evaluation for Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery

The proven success of endoscopic and videoscopic surgery combined with recent advancements in telemanipulation has made the performance of minimally invasive cardiac surgery a clinical reality during the past decade. A complete understanding of the basic concepts of minimally invasive surgery and the recent advancements in peripheral cardiopulmonary bypass techniques help the cardiac imager to provide a clinically meaningful interpretation for the surgical team. In this article we present an overview of minimally invasive mitral valve surgery and the fundamentals of preprocedural computed tomography angiography imaging and highlight the usefulness of cardiac computed tomography as a supplementary tool to echocardiography.