Minimally invasive techniques have been developed in the last 30 years due to the fact that heart valve surgery, that is, heart valve repair and replacement surgeries, is routinely performed by making an incision of 35-40 cm in the old open heart surgery and due to the delay of bone union due to the high number of complications. The practice of removing the heart valve by entering the heart and replacing it with a new valve for 50-60 years has provided great experience and enabled the development of new types of heart valves. Today, both the successful application of minimally invasive (armpit minithoracotomy) techniques and advanced bileaflet (double leaflet) metal and biological heart valves have increased the success rate in these surgeries. The operations performed prolong the lifespan at high rates such as 30-40 years.

Advantages After Heart Valve Surgery
The benefits in the hospital process are; complications such as bleeding and infection are low, the intensive care process does not exceed 24 hours, and the hospital stay is 4-5 days. The only disadvantage for the patient is that the early period pain is a little more than routine heart surgery. The reason is that the outer membrane of the lung is sensitive to pain. But after 8-10 hours, there is no pain. In heart surgery performed with this technique, the chest is entered through a right armpit minithoracotomy and the heart valve is reached by connecting the heart to the lung pump. Heart valves that are not overly calcified can be repaired, or the valve is removed and a metal or biological valve is stitched in place.

Especially in patients who do not have lung problems, it reduces the complications, as well as reduces the risk of heart surgery in case of need for a second surgery in the later years of life. Patients with valve repair can easily have open heart surgery when valve replacement is required after 15-20 years. This is another advantage that extends the lifespan.

Treatment Methods of Heart Valve Diseases
Since heart valve diseases can cause some heart problems such as heart enlargement and heart failure, they must be treated. Early diagnosis is very important in the treatment of heart valve diseases. However, it should be noted that these diseases progress insidiously and sometimes do not show any symptoms. Therefore, it is extremely important to detect the disease in the early period with the examinations to be made and to apply the necessary treatment.

In the treatment of heart valve diseases, with advanced techniques, the valve is sometimes repaired by heart valve surgery and sometimes it is completely replaced. With minimally invasive surgical techniques, the heart valve is repaired or replaced with a small incision of 4 cm on the side, under the arm, or with a small incision of 4-5 cm from the front if the lungs are bad. The important thing is timely intervention, timely detection and not severe damage to the heart.