Use of echocardiography in patients with prolapsed mitral valve.

The echocardiographic findings are described for five patients who had the prolapsed mitral valve syndrome, proven by cardiac catheterization and angiocardiography. In all five patients, the echocardiograms demonstrated posterior displacement of the posterior mitral leaflet during systole. In four of the patients there was also posterior displacement of the anterior leaflet. Four of the five patients had mitral insufficiency, demonstrated by cineangiography. These four patients demonstrated echocardiographic separation of the anterior and posterior leaflets of the mitral valve in late systole. The fifth patient did not show this separation, and she had no mitral insufficiency by selective cineangiography. Two patients were given amyl nitrite during the echocardiographic examination, and the echogram showed earlier separation of the anterior and posterior leaflets as well as lengthening of the murmur. Echocardiography should be a very useful noninvasive, yet direct, method for diagnosing, studying, and following patients with prolapse of the mitral valve.