Surgical technique: papillary muscle sling for functional mitral regurgitation during minimally invasive valve surgery.

In patients with functional mitral regurgitation, the placement of a sling encircling both papillary muscles in conjunction with mitral annuloplasty appears to be a rational approach for surgical correction, because it addresses both the mitral valve and the deformities of the subvalvular mitral apparatus. Reports in the literature that describe the utilization of this technique are few, and mainly involve a median sternotomy approach. The purpose of this communication is to describe the technical details of performing this procedure via a minimally invasive approach.