The heart has four valves: mitral, aortic, tricuspid, and pulmonic. These valves normally function like little doors, opening widely to allow blood to flow easily through to the next chamber, and closing tightly to prevent blood in the heart from traveling in the wrong direction. People may be born with a malformed valve. Sometimes having rheumatic fever as a child can damage heart valves. And sometimes, for unknown reasons, a valve simply malfunctions.

Such valvular disorders are usually diagnosed by physical examination and echocardiography. Physicians in NYU Medical Center's Noninvasive Cardiology Laboratory are leaders in the field of echocardiography, and pioneered many of the techniques used to diagnose valvular disorders.

Very often, valves can be repaired and their function improved dramatically. Other times, the diseased valve must be removed and replaced with a prosthetic valve made of metal, plastic, or a natural material.

NYU Medical Center's cardiac surgeons are leaders in the minimally invasive repair of heart valves, including the mitral, aortic, and tricuspid valves. Indeed, in 1996, NYU cardiac surgeons performed the world's first minimally invasive mitral valve repair using a "port-access approach," which accesses the heart via small chest incisions and allows the patient to recover more quickly than traditional open-heart surgery.

In 2001, Dr. Stephen B. Colvin, Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYU School of Medicine, and his colleague, Dr. Aubrey C. Galloway, Director of Cardiac Surgical Research, announced a major advance in heart valve repair technology with the launch of the Colvin-Galloway Future Band -- a new semi-rigid band used to repair leaky mitral valves. Our surgeons strive whenever possible to repair, rather than replace, dysfunctional heart valves, making us a world leader in the treatment of valvular disease.

Today, our surgeons are evaluating a novel robotic surgical system to perform minimally invasive repair of the mitral valve.

NYU Resources

Cardiothoracic Surgery

Minimally Invasive Valvular Surgery

Noninvasive Cardiology Laboratory

Other Resources on the Web

American Heart Association

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute