Mitral Valve Awareness: Top 5 Considerations for Mitral Valve Surgery

For this reason, we interviewed Dr. Michael Acker and Dr. Michael Ibrahim, two leading mitral valve surgeons from Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During their extraordinary careers, Drs. Acker and Ibrahim have performed thousands of mitral valve repair and replacement operations.

Key questions addressed in this video interview include:

1. Is it advisable for patients with mitral valve disease who are asymptomatic to have mitral valve surgery? Why?

2. What type of cardiac damage may occur if mitral valve disease is not treated?

3. Why is mitral valve repair the preferred treatment for mitral regurgitation patients? Can mitral valve repair techniques restore normal patient life expectancy?

4. Why is it important for patients to research their potential surgeons and cardiac centers?

5. Why should patients and their medical teams follow a "shared decision making" approach for mitral valve therapy? Why is it critical for patients to feel empowered during their surgical process?

6. What should patients know about the lifetime management of mitral valve disease? How might transcatheter mitral valve devices help patients needing a mitral valve reoperation?

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Thanks so much for these videos! So helpful!