I hope that you find the discussions here helpful, but strongly encourage you to seek the advice of a physician if you suspect or know that you have an adverse cardiac health condition. The heart, in effect, becomes a large floppy sack and loses the ability to pump blood efficiently. Some patients with dilated cardiomyopathy are good candidates for a mitral valve repair operation instead of a replacement. The surgeon re-forms the valve with his scalpel and sutures to make it functional. A new, and still experimental, procedure is being tested in a few centers in the U.S. and around the world.
Some surgeons also perform a mitral valve repair at the same time.
This procedure is currently being performed on patients who are suffering from end-stage cardiac disease involving idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.