What is valvuloplasty technique

Heart valve insufficiency, especially atrioventricular valve insufficiency or concurrent stenosis, is often the result of involvement of multiple cardiac structures such as leaflets, tendons, papillary muscles, and annulus. Current treatments include valvuloplasty, prosthetic mechanical valve replacement, and biological valve replacement. With the development of cardiac surgery technology, valvuloplasty has become one of the main tools for the treatment of heart valve diseases. Valvuloplasty is the repair of a diseased valve for therapeutic purposes and is usually indicated in cases of valvular incompetence or in patients with partial stenosis. Valvuloplasty can be performed on mitral, aortic, and tricuspid valves. It involves the reconstruction and annular reduction of the annulus, shortening, lengthening, and transfer of the papillary muscles and tendons, implantation of the prosthetic annulus and tendons, and repair of the valve leaflets. The procedure is relatively demanding and requires intraoperative esophageal ultrasound monitoring to determine the effect of valvuloplasty, which is mainly indicated in patients with mild valvular lesions, no significant annular enlargement, and good function of the tendon cords and papillary muscles. If the valve, tendon cords, and papillary muscles are more severely diseased. Loss-of-function insufficiency or stenosis, etc., then valve replacement is required. Compared with prosthetic mechanical valve replacement, valvuloplasty has the advantage of not requiring anticoagulation and avoiding complications caused by taking anticoagulants such as Warfarin; the good shaping effect facilitates recovery of cardiac function. Although the anticoagulation time is shorter after bioprosthetic valve replacement, its short service life is a major obstacle limiting its widespread use. Valvuloplasty requires a variety of repair methods for all different lesions, including separation of valve or tendon adhesions, partial leaflet resection and repair, tendon shortening or grafting, prosthetic annulus reduction, and correction of annular deformities, so it is also known as “comprehensive valvuloplasty. The purpose of valvuloplasty is not only to restore the anatomical shape of the valve or annulus, but more importantly to improve and restore the normal function of the valve and the heart. Ultrasound technology is very accurate and sensitive in examining heart valve function, and intraoperative transesophageal ultrasound technology provides technical support for the development of valvuloplasty, which has led to the continuous improvement of valvuloplasty technology. Valvuloplasty is mainly suitable for: 1, children with heart valve insufficiency, because the valve ring is small and in the developmental stage, such as valve replacement children need secondary valve replacement in adulthood. 2, ischemic valve disease, 3, degenerative valve disease, 4, rheumatic valve disease without severe calcification, 5, women of childbearing age and patients with anticoagulant contraindicated valve disease valvuloplasty is particularly suitable.