Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement surgery. First cases performed in Cuba

Aortic valve diseases, primarily of rheumatic cause in the past, are now mostly degenerative. The arrival of new therapeutic strategies, technological developments and increased life expectancy have led to an increase in the incidence of this disease and also to the fact that the patients we treat are increasingly of older ages. Thus minimally invasive cardiac surgery has been developed and aims to provide a new possibility of surgical treatment for the increasingly growing number of patients. A report of the first 2 aortic valve replacements performed in Cuba using this minimally invasive surgery is presented in this article. This technique has been successful in reducing the risk of infection and bleeding, need of transfusions, postoperative pain and postoperative intubation and mechanical ventilation times, as well as hospital stay and total cost of surgery.