To study the mechanism of altered mitral function in the presence of an isolated cleft mitral valve (ICMV) with regard to the relative roles of the cleft and of the accessory chordae, seven patients with ICMV were studied with color Doppler echocardiography. Mitral insufficiency ranging from mild to severe was demonstrated in six cases. The regurgitant jet originated in each case from the site ...

surgery for heart diseases during pregnancy, especially necessitating cardiopulmonary bypass, is believed to trigger maternal and fetal risks and should be performed only when medical therapy has been unsuccessful to alleviate the cardiac decompensation. a 33-year-old pregnant woman in her 33rd week of gestation was admitted to our hospital. she had rheumatic mitral valvular stenosis and had un...

To assess the ability of M-mode echocardiography to detect the incidence and frequency of porcine xenograft valve thickening, echocardiograms were obtained in 147 mitral and aortic porcine xenograft valves implanted in 131 patients. The patients were divided into an early group in whom the echocardiograms were performed within two months of valve replacement, and intermediate group studied two ...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate, using echocardiography, the functioning of the mitral valve apparatus in patients submitted to standardized bovine pericardium chordae implantation to substitute ruptured chordae tendineae or elongated chordae with a significant degree of thinning. METHOD Standardized bovine pericardium chordae were implanted in 23 patients with mitral va...

We read with interest the report by Marlow et al on an infant with Marfan's syndrome and mitral valve dysfunction who died after acute illness with gross cardiac failure.' The authors stated that 'disease affecting the mitral valve is usually more benign than that of the aortic valve ....' This statement, however, may not be applicable to infants and young children with Marfan's syndrome. We ha...

Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is any association between the optimal increase in mitral valve area and mitral transvalvular gradient decrement and pulmonary arterial pressure decrement after balloon mitral valvuloplasty (BMV) in patients with mitral stenosis. Methods: The study population consisted of 49 patients (47 women, 2 men; mean age = 43.7±13.35 years) wi...

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in surgical reconstruction of the insufficient mitral valve because of reconfirmation of the limitations of existing prosthetic and bioprosthetic valves. A follow-up study, including late functional data, of 148 patients who underwent mitral valve reconstruction at our institution was combined with a review of the literature to assess the curre...

A 73-year-old man with permanent atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease revascularized with coronary artery bypass grafting, mitral valve repair with a 30-mm Carpentier Physio ring (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California), tricuspid valve repair with a 34-mm Edwards MC3 ring (Edwards Lifesciences), and implantation of a 23-mm CarboMedics aortic valve (Sorin Group, Milan, Italy) in 2008 ...

A 49 year old female presented with severe dyspnoea due to mitral regurgitation. Echocardiography revealed an aberrant mitral valve chord causing severe mitral regurgitation. The aberrant chord extended between the anterior mitral valve leaflet (AMVL) and the atrial septum causing AMVL prolapse. Resection of the aberrant chord and correction of the AMVL using synthetic Gore-Tex sutures was perf...