Totally video-guided thorascopic cardiac surgery (TVTCS) represents one of the
most minimally invasive access routes to the heart. Its feasibility and safety
can be guaranteed by an experienced surgeon with skilled operative techniques
under the guidance of a video signal via thoracoscopy and the imaging from
transesophageal echocardiography. At present, this surgical approach has been
applied for atrioventricular valve disease, atrial septum defects plus and
partial anomalous pulmonary venous drainage, cardiac tumors, hypertrophic
obstructive cardiomyopathy, aortic valve disease, and atrial fibrillation.
Multimodality cardiovascular imaging, including echocardiography, X-ray, computed
tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cardiac catheterization,
provides morphologic characteristics and function status of the cardiovascular
system and a comprehensive view of the target anatomy. In this review, the
benefits of multimodality cardiovascular imaging are summarized for the clinical
practice of TVTCS, including the preoperative preparation, intraoperative
guidance and postoperative supervision. The disease categories are also
individually reviewed on the basis of multimodality cardiovascular imaging, to
ensure the feasibility and safety for TVTCS. Cardiovascular imaging technologies
not only confirm who is a candidate for this surgical technique, but also provide
technical support during the procedure and for postop follow to assess the
clinical outcomes. Multimodality cardiovascular imaging is instrumental to
provide the requirements to solve the problems for conduction of TVTCS; and to
provide individualized protocols with high-resolution and real-time dynamic
imaging fusion.