ABSTRACT
The early history of surgery for mitral valve disease began with closed commissurotomy without heart bypass, first performed successfully by Elliot Cutler of Boston in 1923 and Souttar of England in 1925. The procedure was largely abandoned due to high mortality rates although subsequent development of the operation by Dwight Harken of Boston and Charles Bailey of Philadelphia resulted in limited success in the 1940s and 1950s.
