You've heard of open-heart surgery, but surgeons in France have performed the first heart surgery that was, essentially, closed. Without opening the chest, surgeons at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint-Étienne conducted the totally endoscopic aortic valve replacement (TEAVR) with a small incision in the patient's sternum and the placement of a compressible, self-expanding nitinol stent, the team published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. The surgery took only 45 minutes, leaving minimal scarring, according to a report in the International Business Times. Lead surgeon Marco Vola said: "These first procedures show that totally endoscopic sutureless aortic valve replacement is technically feasible. Further clinical experience and technical development are necessary to shorten operation times and to assess further the potential postoperative benefits of TEAVR." Story