Early results of female patients who underwent mitral valve surgery through periareolar incision approach.

Background: Approaches that require less invasive procedures, offer heal in a shorter time and provide better cosmetic results have gained importance with the technological and modern developments in cardiac surgery. Esthetically preferred results can be achieved after heart valve surgery using a periareolar incision, especially in female patients. In the present study, we aimed to present our results after surgery using periareolar incision in female patients.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the 1-year follow-up results in the postoperative period of isolated mitral valve replacement and tricuspid valve repair with mitral valve replacement using a periareolar incision with direct observation in 32 patients between 2020 and 2023. At the end of 1-year follow-up, we evaluated the patients' visual satisfaction with the incision site using a visual analog scale.

Results: According to the postoperative follow-up results, no prosthetic mitral valve dysfunction was detected in any of the patients at the 1st year echocardiography controls. Mild tricuspid valve insufficiency was detected in 3 patients who underwent tricuspid valve repair. Besides, a high level of satisfaction was observed in the patients' incision site evaluations with a visual analog scale at the end of the first year, and no numbness was reported in the periareolar region in any of the patients.

Conclusion: Our study shows that surgical results similar to conventional methods can be achieved with the periareolar approach, and patient satisfaction and recovery times are shorter and more satisfying. We also think that the periareolar incision can be made without videoassisted equipment and this may reduce the surgical cost.