Intraoperative echocardiography and minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

The term minimally invasive cardiac surgery encompasses a number of different techniques, each with its own rationale, origin, and development, but all focusing on limiting the physiologic trespass of cardiac surgery on the patient. In this article, we discuss the application of intraoperative echocardiography to three types of these procedures: Offpump coronary artery bypass graft (OPCABG) surgery, valvular surgery through limited thoracic incisions, and port-access heart surgery.