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Miami Minimally Invasive Valves
Joseph Lamelas, MD
Dedicated to the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery
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April 10, 2011
Incision and Chest X-ray

Once again, emphasizing the need to review the Chest X-Ray to plan the chest incision (right lateral mini-thoracotomy).

proximity of replaced valve to chest wall with large heart

I am including a photo of a radiograph which shows a large heart. In this particular case, the incision needs to be even more lateral than customarily performed. I usually start my incision lateral to the anterior axillary line. In this particular case I would start my incision at the mid axillary line. The heart will lie very close to the chest wall and

Distance from skin incision to right atrium < 3cm !

facilitate access to the mitral valve as demonstrated in the picture.

2 thoughts on “Incision and Chest X-ray”

  1. Joe just short note to thank u for stimulating my partner and i since we started end of november we are up to 31 mics mvrepairs and avreplacements we are doing all camers and it has been specially beneficial in the high risk patient ( old re op and previous cabg )u deserve all the credit for simplifiing minimally invasive heart surgery.

    1. Thank you for the comment. Stay on the path. There is no doubt that this procedure definitely benefits the high risk patients. We need to continue to prove this concept. Good luck to you and your partner.

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