The possibilities of minimally invasive approach in aortic root surgery

The trend towards minimally invasive and excellent cosmetic effect has affected the most difficult section of cardiac surgery – the aortic root. To date, there are various minimally invasive approach for the correction of aortic root pathol ogy, which are used in single clinics in the world. The objective of this literature review was to study the current state of minimally invasive aortic root surgery and critically evaluate methods of correcting its pathology from different types of minimally invasive approach. The minimally invasive approach to these operations is presented in this review of the literature. A mutual comparison of minimally invasive approaches was carried out, their advantages over the traditional approach were determined. Despite the attractiveness of the technique, there are serious limitations of its wide appli cation, such as a long learning curve, an extremely low number of long-term results and the absence of multicenter, randomized comparison studies with traditional approach.