Traditional cardiac surgery is more invasive and has a longer post-operative recovery time. Minimally invasive cardiac surgery is gradually being recognized by doctors and patients for its low trauma and quick recovery. Recently, an elderly female patient in her seventies suffered from both atrial septal defect and tricuspid regurgitation. The patient underwent a small right thoracic incision for atrial septal repair and tricuspid valvuloplasty in the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital. The patient also had congenital heart disease with atrial septal defect; tricuspid valve closure insufficiency. Recently, symptoms such as palpitations have gradually worsened after activity, and the amount of activity has been significantly limited. The patient was older and had a higher risk of postoperative complications if traditional median open heart surgery was performed. The decision to perform a small incision minimally invasive surgery for the patient was discussed by Professor Minxin Wei, Director of Cardiovascular Surgery at General Hospital, and his team. In April 2011, the patient underwent a small-incision atrial septal repair in the right chest and tricuspid valvuloplasty at the same time. The postoperative incision only left a scar of about 8 cm and two tiny scars of about 1 cm on the right chest wall. The patient was soon able to move freely without worrying about poor sternal healing. A review 2 weeks after the surgery showed a good result and the patient was discharged successfully. The professor introduced that small incision cardiac surgery is a branch of minimally invasive cardiac surgery. It is mainly used in cardiac surgeries such as simple aortic valve replacement, mitral valve replacement and plication, tricuspid valve plication, and atrial septal repair. The main advantage of small incision surgery is that it reduces the huge trauma to the sternum caused by traditional median open-heart surgery, enhances the stability of the patient’s sternum after surgery, and is of great significance in terms of improving respiratory function after surgery. At the same time, the incision length is significantly reduced and concealed, which improves the postoperative patient’s aesthetics to a certain extent and helps the patient’s postoperative psychological recovery. At present, the cardiovascular surgery department of the hospital is the first to carry out small-incision cardiac surgery in Tianjin, and small-incision valve replacement of the upper or lower sternal segment, small-incision valve surgery of the right chest and corrective surgery for precordial disease have become routine, with fast recovery and small incisions for patients. It is believed that in the future, small-incision minimally invasive surgery will gradually be accepted by more doctors and patients.