Bileaflet pericardial patch repair for rheumatic mitral valve disease.

Surgical repair in rheumatic mitral valve disease is technically challenging as the disease affects both valvular and subvalvular structures. Due to the resultant shortage of pliable valve tissue, pericardial patch techniques are progressively used to restore normal valve function. This makes mitral valve repair possible even in the most severe forms of rheumatic mitral valve disease. In this tutorial, we report a case of mitral valve repair with a bileaflet (decellularized) pericardial patch in a patient with severe rheumatic mitral valve disease.