Perspectives on surgical treatment of mitral valve disease.

A sound knowledge of the functional anatomy of the mitral valve and the alterations caused by different diseases is indispensable for surgeons treating patients with mitral valve disease. Rheumatic mitral valve disease remains the most common heart valvular disorder in developing countries, whereas mitral regurgitation due myxomatous degeneration of the valve is the most common in developed countries. The mitral valve should be repaired whenever possible, as long as the outcome is predictably better than that of replacement. The intraoperative decision to repair or replace is not always simple and depends on the experience of the surgeon and the pathological changes that caused mitral valve dysfunction.