Objective: To review current data on minimally invasive cardiac surgery.
Data sources: Search through the Medline data base of French or English articles.
Data extraction: The articles were analysed to make a synthesis of the various techniques with their main indications and contra-indications.
Data synthesis: Minimally invasive cardiac surgery includes various surgical procedures. The usual techniques are described, their major benefits and drawbacks are discussed. The main goals of anaesthetic management are preservation of ventricular function and systemic perfusion, detection and treatment of myocardial ischaemia, prevention of hypothermia in case of coronary artery bypass grafting on the beating heart via sternotomy, intermittent selective ventilation of the collapsed lung using CPAP in case of limited thoracotomy. Expertise in transoesophageal echocardiography is essential for insertion and checking the accurate positioning of the various catheters of the endovascular CPB Heartport system (pulmonary vent, endosinus catheter, venous cannula, endoaortic clamp) allowing coronary artery bypass grafting and mitral valve surgery through limited thoracotomy and finally, detection of retained intracardiac air and assessment of complete clearing of cardiac cavities after mitral valve surgery through limited thoracotomy and aortic valve surgery via ministernotomy. Short-acting anaesthetic agents allow rapid recovery from anaesthesia, early extubation and discharge to the surgical ward within 24 h, whereas overall time spent in the operating room is often longer than with conventional cardiac surgery.