Robotic mitral valve repair for all prolapse subsets using techniques identical to open valvuloplasty: Establishing the benchmark against which percutaneous interventions should be judged

Objective Recent reports have shown that robotic mitral valve repair is effective in treating posterior leaflet disease; however, comparison with trans-sternal (open) valvuloplasty for all prolapse categories has not been performed. Moreover, data from the recently published EVEREST II trial infer that adverse event rates after mitral valve repair for degenerative disease are high. We therefore compared early outcomes of robotic versus open mitral valve repair for patients with mitral valve prolapse. Methods Among 745 consecutive patients undergoing open or robotic mitral repair for degenerative disease, 95 propensity-matched pairs were identified. Leaflet prolapse categories were similar between groups. Complete mitral valve repair was performed using identical techniques. Results Median crossclamp and bypass times were longer in the robotic group but decreased significantly over time ( P