Replicated Mitral Valve Models From Real Patients Offer Training Opportunities for Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Repair

Engelhardt and colleagues describe a high-fidelity training simulator for minimally invasive mitral valve surgery. The novelty of this simulator was the fact that it was equipped with new silicone replicas of patient-specific pathological mitral valves. Five expert surgeons and seven residents performed mitral valve surgery using the simulator, with the skills of all the trainees being improved in just one simulation session.