Dr. Hartmuth Bittner is a cardiothoracic surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive cardiac procedures and thoracic transplantation. His clinical background includes mitral valve repair, coronary revascularization, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Dr. Hartmuth Bittner has developed experience in these areas through surgical training, clinical appointments, and participation in cardiovascular treatment programs in the United States and Germany.
Dr. Bittner performs mitral valve repairs using the “respect rather than resect” approach, which focuses on preserving the existing valve tissue during surgery. His experience also includes on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass procedures, as well as combined operations involving coronary bypass and aortic or mitral valve repair.
He is also skilled in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Dr. Bittner has more than ten years of national and international experience with TAVR, and cares for patients using the Heart Team TAVR approach.
Dr. Bittner’s work in thoracic surgery has included video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). He has also presented research on minimally invasive lung transplantation. One of his presentations at the 2015 International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery meeting examined the use of small anterior thoracotomy incisions for single and bilateral sequential lung transplantation.