Minimal incision congenital cardiac surgery.

Minimally invasive techniques have had limited application in congenital cardiac surgery, primarily due to the complexity of the defects, small working area, and the fact that most defects require exposure to intracardiac structures. Advances in cannula design and instrumentation have allowed application of minimal incision techniques but in most cases, cardiopulmonary bypass is still required. Image guided surgery, which uses noninvasive imaging to guide intracardiac procedures, holds the promise of permitting performance of reconstructive surgery in the beating heart in children.