The mitral hooks: visualization of mitral valve made easy.

Historically the mitral valve has been exposed through a variety of approaches from the standard left atriotomy to cardiac autotransplantation. Regardless of the approach, adequate exposure to the mitral valve is crucial to a successful valve repair or replacement. We describe a simple and effective way of bringing the mitral valve into view through a standard left atriotomy with the use of specially designed and modified mitral hooks. The mitral hooks provide excellent unobstructed view of the mitral valve, which is suitable for repair and replacement.