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Over three decades ago, Alain Carpentier, MD, PhD and colleagues1 summarized the “Golden Rules” of mitral valve repair into three basic principles: preserve leaflet mobility, restore a large surface of coaptation, and remodel the annulus. Still applicable today, these surgical tenets allow reconstructive surgery in almost all patients with mitral regurgitation, provided there is an adequate amount of pliable and mobile leaflet tissue. A systematic approach to mitral repair should be followed, including the determination of the exact mechanism of mitral regurgitation by intraoperative TEE and valve analysis, meticulous application of standardized techniques of repair, and evaluation of the quality of repair by saline testing and post-cardiopulmonary bypass TEE.
 Dr. Farzan Filsoufi, Dr. Alain Carpentier, and Dr. David Adams at work on their upcoming book.
(1) Carpentier A, Deloche A, Dauptain J et al. A new reconstructive operation for correction of mitral and tricuspid insufficiency. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1971 January;61(1):1-13. (*) Reprinted from J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg, 61(1), Carpentier A, Deloche A, Dauptain J et al, A new reconstructive operation for correction of mitral and tricuspid insufficiency, 1-13, Copyright 1971, with permission from Elsevier.
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