Heart valve tricuspid valve has anterior, posterior, and septal cusps; and the mitral valve has just anterior and posterior cusps. The valves of the human heart can be grouped in two sets: 1- Two Atrioventricular (AV) valves to prevent backflow of blood from the ventricles into the atria a) Tricuspid valve, located between the right atrium and right ventricle. b) Bicuspid or mitral valve, located between the left atrium and left ventricle. 2- Two Semilunar valves to prevent the backflow of blood into the ventricle a) Pulmonary semilunar valve, located at the opening between the right ventricle and the pulmonary trunk. b)
Mitral valve annuloplasty are believed to be key to optimize leaflet coaptation and to minimize tissue stresses. The challenge of mitral valve annuloplasty is to improve the diseased and distorted shape of the mitral valve and to reestablish the physiological configuration, while preserving normal annular dynamics. Today, cardiac surgeons can select from a variety of annuloplasty devices, flexible, semi-rigid, or rigid, incomplete or complete, planar or saddle-shaped, adjustable and non-adjustable. While the general goal of all devices is the same, namely to increase leaflet coaptation and to support the posterior annulus against dilation, flexible bands are designed to maintain the three-dimensional contour of