Early- and Long-term Outcomes of Cardiovascular Surgery via Minimal Right Vertical Infra-axillary Thoracotomy: A 15-year Study of 1,126 Patients.

This study reviews our results and experience with cardiothoracic surgery via RVIAT over the past 15 years. This retrospective overview summarises our results, describing the early and late clinical outcomes of 1,126 patients, including 370 ASD closures, 488 VSD closures and 268 valve surgeries, at a single center between October 2001 and December 2015. The mean follow-up time was 52 ± 35 months (range 8-120 months). The mean incision length was 6 ± 2.22 cm (range 3.9-8.9 cm). No patient required conversion to median sternotomy. All patients were satisfied with the cosmetic results at the follow-up assessment. No chest deformity or asymmetrical development of the breast was observed. Although there was no severe morbidity and operative mortality, ten late deaths occurred, 8 of which were due to cardiac causes and the other 2 to non-cardiac causes. RVIAT offers encouraging short- and long-term patient survival results and is a safe and reproducible approach with excellent late results. RVIAT should be considered as an alternative to conventional median sternotomy.