{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T10:04:51Z","timestamp":1789034691188,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1751328000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCDD"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: In recent decades, aortic valve surgery has transitioned from conventional median sternotomy (MS) to minimally invasive techniques, including partial upper mini-sternotomy (PUMS) and right anterolateral mini-thoracotomy (RAMT). This study retrospectively compares the outcomes of aortic valve replacement (AVR) using PUMS during the learning phase with those of standard MS. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients (n = 211) who underwent AVR for aortic stenosis. They were divided into MS (n = 119) and PUMS (n = 92) groups. Various preoperative, surgical and postoperative parameters, including survival, were examined. Results: Preoperatively, the main difference was age, with PUMS patients being older (67.5 \u00b1 7 vs. 66.5 \u00b1 9.6; p = 0.010). PUMS patients also had longer cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and cross-clamping times (99 \u00b1 25 vs. 80 \u00b1 16 min; p &lt; 0.002; 79 \u00b1 18 vs. 65 \u00b1 13 min; p &lt; 0.024). There were no significant differences in body mass index, prosthesis size, indexed effective orifice area, hospitalisation duration or any other monitored parameter. Echocardiographic follow-up found no differences in prosthetic pressure gradients, flow velocity or paravalvular leak between the PUMS and MS groups. Survival rates were similar over 1000 days. Conclusions: The data suggest that PUMS offers comparable surgical outcomes to MS for AVR with additional cosmetic benefits, undeterred by a learning curve.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcdd12070254","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T10:45:08Z","timestamp":1751366708000},"page":"254","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Short-Term Outcomes of Partial Upper Ministernotomy for Aortic Valve Replacement Within the Learning Curve Context"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4195-5180","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tom\u00e1\u0161","family":"Toporcer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mari\u00e1n","family":"Homola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anton","family":"Bere\u0161","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-9607-5949","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michal","family":"Trebi\u0161ovsk\u00fd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tom\u00e1\u0161","family":"Lopuchovsk\u00fd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"\u0160tef\u00e1nia","family":"Mi\u017e\u00e1kov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Luk\u00e1\u0161","family":"Vajda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"\u0160tefan","family":"Luka\u010d\u00edn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9390-7191","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adri\u00e1n","family":"Koles\u00e1r","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Heart Surgery, East Slovak Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases and Medical Faculty, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University, 04011 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"ezae177","DOI":"10.1093\/ejcts\/ezae177","article-title":"Cardiothoracic Surgery Registration Committee of the Netherlands Heart, R. 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