Mitral valve repair has become the norm of current cardiac surgical practice and, in most cases, can be successfully implemented to treat degenerative and myxomatous valve disease. On the other hand, aortic valve repair has not been unequivocally accepted by the cardiothoracic community as a norm for treatment of aortic valve disease. There are proponents of aortic valve repair who argue that it is very effective, safe, and durable. At the same time, others do not believe it is an effective technique.

Being largely asymptomatic, thoracic aortic aneurysms pose a challenge for the physician to identify and intervene in time to prevent death or a major complication. Knowing how to accurately analyze the available clinical data is vital to informing the proper management of these patients. This paper seeks to provide an overview of the statistical methods most commonly used to analyze clinical outcomes with a special focus on research related to aortic disease.