A patient with a submandibular gland carcinoma was found clinically to have a unilateral chorda tympani, lingual and hypoglossal nerve deficit. This unique neurological entity of loss of taste sensation of one-half of the tongue (hemiageusia), hemianaesthesia and hemiatrophy of the tongue, has not previously been reported.

To what extent is prolapse of the mitral valve associated with mitral regurgitation and the risk of infective endocarditis, rupture of the chordae tendineae, and sudden death? Earlier studies used differing definitions and criteria, and reported prevalence of this deformity varied widely, especially between referral and general population studies. Advances in echocardiography have clarified the...

X-ray diffraction analysis of connective tissue samples, which contain type I and type III collagen shows that twisted collagen fibrils are a general principle of assembly. The occurrence of twisted fibrils in native wet Chordae tendineae, skin and Aorta is combined with a shorter axial periodicity of about 65 nm. This shorter D period is shown to be directly related to the tilt of the molecule...

The morphology of 50 normal tricuspid valves was studied. The surface of the leaflets was divided into three zones: (1) the rough zone, into which most of the chordae tendineae are inserted, (2) the basal zone, and (3) the clear zone, which lies between the rough and basal zones. Five types of chordae were distinguished by their morphology and mode of insertion: fan-shaped, rough zone, basal, f...

Total mitral valve replacement was first successfully accomplished by Starr and Edwards (1961) using a ball valve prosthesis. We have adopted their method for patients in whom the pathological changes make it impossible to obtain a mobile anterior mitral leaflet due to calcifications or shortened fused chordae tendineae. This paper describes an instrument that holds the ball valve prosthesis in...