Cedars-Sinai received the top rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons for mitral surgery again this year. The team recently presented their experience from more than 1,000 robotic mitral repairs with near 100% early survival and repair rates at the 2021 Society of Thoracic Surgeons Annual Meeting. 

Mitral specialists Joanna Chikwe, MD and Alfredo Trento, MD also led the Minimally Invasive Mitral Surgery Deep Dive, educating hundreds of surgeons from around the world in advanced mitral repair techniques.

Nationally, mitral repair rates for degenerative mitral regurgitation continue to vary widely between institutions and individual surgeons, with a tendency for higher mitral case volumes to be associated with better outcomes. 

Cedars-Sinai is supporting new initiatives to help patients and their physicians find expert mitral repair centers and surgeons locally. The team educates surgeons from around the U.S. in mitral repair techniques and minimally invasive surgery, and has contributed to developing American Heart Association performance measures for mitral valve surgery. 

Physicians can refer patients and share appointment details with Cedars-Sinai surgeons through a mobile app, and any patient can speak to a mitral surgeon through a video visit to review their options and suitability for minimally invasive mitral repair at Cedars-Sinai. Install and open the Cedars-Sinai app (available in the Apple App Store or Google Play) on a mobile device, and log in to My CS-Link^TM. Tap “visits” to start.