Analyzing and comparing the impacts and outcomes of two different types of surgeries - Minimally Invasive Surgeries (MIS) and Conventional Surgeries (CVS) on patients suffering from Degenerative Mitral Valve Diseases

Background: Degenerative Mitral Valve Disease (DMVD) is the most common cause of Mitral Regurgitation (MR) and the main reason for surgical intervention in patients with heart diseases. Traditionally, open-heart surgery or else sternotomy was the main surgical approach used until a few decades ago when Minimally Invasive Surgical (MIS) approaches came into existence. MIS approach is thought to have superior clinical outcomes while minimizing hospital and ICU stay; blood loss translating to fewer blood transfusions, and lower incidence of complications. Despite many promising institutional and regional results of benefits of MIS over the conventional surgery, the adoption of MIS worldwide in Mitral Valve Repair (MVR) has been so poor. There are still arguments on the surgical and clinical benefits of MIS and more importantly the cost and the expertise involved in conducting MIS. Objective: This study aimed at comparing the costs, clinical and surgical outcomes of MIS with conventional sternotomy MVR surgeries in patients with DMVD. Methods: Electronic databases such as MEDLINE, PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar were searched for relevant peer-reviewed articles comparing costs and clinical outcomes of MIS with the conventional surgery/sternotomy in DMVD from January 2013 to November 2020. A total of 7 articles were identified as most relevant and therefore included in the meta-analysis. Results: Findings from the meta-analysis pointed out that repair of the mitral valve using MIS patients with DMVD has benefits such as short ICU, intubation and hospital duration; less loss of blood and therefore less need of blood transfusion; low postoperative infection rates; smaller incisions; early ambulation and return to activities of daily living over conventional surgery while maintaining similar costs of care and clinical outcomes as a sternotomy. Conclusions: Given the added advantages of MIS in mitral valve surgeries, cardiac surgeons should consider it over the conventional open surgeries in patients with DMVD. In this regard, more surgeons and nurses need to gain competency in conducting MIS through training and fellowships; hospitals need to acquire the needed infrastructure to enable the adoption of MIS.