Right infraaxillary thoracotomy for minimally invasive aortic valve replacement.

Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement has been performed via partial sternotomy, the parasternal approach, and anterior intercostal approaches. We successfully performed aortic valve replacement through a small right infraaxillary thoracotomy in 25 patients, with the aid of a thoracoscope and a knot-pusher. The patients were 9 men and 16 women with a mean age of 72.6 years. Our approach had better cosmetic results than traditional approaches through the anterior chest wall. This method did not require rib transection or sacrifice of the internal thoracic artery.