Mitral valve repair available in Europe but still in clinical trial in the United States. It is a highly specialized technique only available at select hospitals. Early trial results suggest that it may be a beneficial approach for patients who are at high risk from conventional surgery. As early as January 2000 a team of doctors at the "Instituto de Cardiología y Cirugía Cardiovascular" in La Habana, Cuba have performed beating heart mitral valve repair or replacement. The beating heart mitral valve replacement technique is as safe as the arrested heart technique, and is the recommended alternative to arrested heart technique. The analogy
Mitral valve stenosis cm, there will be an increase in the left atrial pressures (required to push blood through the stenotic valve). Since the normal left ventricular diastolic pressures is about 5 mmHg, a pressure gradient across the mitral valve of 20 mmHg due to severe mitral stenosis will cause a left atrial pressure of about 25 mmHg. This left atrial pressure is transmitted to the pulmonary vasculature and causes pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary capillary pressures in this level cause an imbalance between the hydrostatic pressure and the oncotic pressure, leading to extravasation of fluid from the vascular tree and pooling of fluid in