Commentary: Return to the past with a view to the future

To perform an adequate mitral valve repair, a surgeon must not only be experienced but also he or she needs to know all concepts of mitral valve repair techniques. This allows the surgeon to use the perfect technique for each type of mitral valve pathology. Carpentier and colleagues1 developed a collection of maneuvers that allows for the achievement of mitral valve repair of most degenerative mitral diseases. Some procedures are simple and are more commonly used, such as quadrangular resection, and others are more complex.