The Alfieri’s edge-to-edge technique for mitral valve repair: from a historical milestone of cardiac surgery to the origin of the transcatheter era

After 30 years since its introduction, the edge-to-edge technique has become one of the most popular and adopted worldwide for surgical repair of mitral regurgitation. The success of this procedure could possibly be explained by its unique simplicity and high level of reproducibility. Indeed, it possesses the ability of being very versatile and it has been used in a wide spectrum of mitral valve pathologies and lesions: from degenerative to functional disease, from posterior to anterior leaflet lesions, including commissural defects. The rapidity of this easy surgical gesture has also enhanced its application in minimally invasive approaches. Finally, it has become a true milestone for the era of transcatheter correction of mitral regurgitation. Here, we describe the history and evolution of this breakthrough in the world of cardiac surgery.