Determination of mitral valve area through pressure half-time measurements in the left atrium and pulmonary capillary wedge.

OBJECTIVE To confirm the validity of the calculation in MVA applying the method of Doppler pressure half-time directly in left atrial (LA) and pulmonary capillary pressure curve. METHODS Thirty-five patients with mitral valve stenosis underwent percutaneous mitral valvotomy (PMV) using the Cribier method with MVA measurement made using the traditional methods (Gorlin and echo-Doppler) and this propose. MVA values obtained were compared and a linear regression model was used to obtain formula for reciprocal calculations of the mitral valve area. RESULTS A statistically correlation was found between the calculated values by all methods. The proposed method showed a strong correlation (p< 0.05) with the others mainly before valve opening. Simple reciprocal calculation formulas were found for mitral valve area assessment. CONCLUSION The proposed method for the calculation of mitral valve area using LA or Cap proved to be highly accurate and simple making it possible to safely monitor valvotomy procedures.