During the 4 years period to be reported, 34 operations were performed on the mitral valve in the department of Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, Korea University hospital, from Aug. 1975 to April 1979. At the first 1-year period, the closed technique was used in 12 patients. After that, open-heart surgery was used routinely; 8 patients had open mitral commissurotomy and 14 patients had valve replacement. There were 18 men and 16 women with sex ratio of 1.1: 1. The age of the patients varied widely from 18 years of the youngest to 46 years of the oldest-average aged of 32.5 years. All had symptoms and the mean duration of symptoms was 6 years and 1 month. Preoperative atrial fibrillation was 47% and embolizations were in 3 of 34 patients. The operative mortality was none for the closed and 14% for the open technique combined rate of 9 per cent which were valve thrombosis, brain embolism and left pulmonary vein rupture in deauriculization. But surviving patients undergoing open heart surgery enjoyed symptomatic benefits comparable to these of the patients of closed.[KTCS 1979;2:127-134]