Left atrial dissection does occur, though rarely, after mitral valve surgery. A 68-year-old Korean female presented with moderate mitral stenosis, mild mitral regurgitation, moderate tricuspid regurgitation and mild aortic regurgitation. She was scheduled for mitral valve replacement and tricuspid annuloplasty. We experienced a left atrial dissection after weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass an...

It is known that rheumatic heart disease frequently results in isolated mitral regurgitation without concomitant mitral stenosis, especially in countries with a high prevalence of rheumatic fever. However, more recent surgical pathologic data also have demonstrated a high incidence of mitral valve prolapse in cases of rheumatic heart disease, which suggests that rheumatic fever may be a cause o...

Pulsed Doppler echocardiography was used to determine prospectively the prevalence of mitral, aortic, tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation in 80 consecutive patients with mitral valve prolapse and 85 normal subjects with similar age and sex distribution. Mitral valve prolapse was defined by posterior systolic displacement of the mitral valve on M-mode echocardiography of 3 mm or more (40 patie...

OBJECTIVES Although mitral valve repair is rarely required in neonates, this population is considered to be at high risk for adverse outcomes. The aim of this study was to review the indications for surgery, mechanisms, repair techniques, and mid-term outcomes of neonatal mitral valve repair. METHODS The demographic, procedural, and outcome data were obtained for all neonates who underwent mi...

Experimental coronary occlusions were carried out in 12 closed-chest dogs to investigate the functional anatomic characteristics of the mitral valve complex during acute myocardial ischemia. Two-dimensional echocardiography was used to assess left ventricular function, the mitral valve complex, and left atrial size. Presence of mitral regurgitation was assessed by left ventricular contrast echo...

Although bicuspid aortic valve occurs in an estimated 1% of adults and mitral valve prolapse in an estimated 5% of adults, occurrence of the 2 in the same patient is infrequent. During examination of operatively excised aortic and mitral valves because of dysfunction (stenosis and/or regurgitation), we encountered 16 patients who had congenitally bicuspid aortic valves associated with various t...

A better understanding of the factors involved in ensuring competence of the mitral valve based on knowledge of the function of the leaflets, chordae tendineae, and papillary muscles has expanded the clinical range of systolic mitral regurgitation. For all this, diastolic mitral regurgitation remains a curiosity. Late diastolic mitral regurgitation has been described together with reversal of t...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to report our 19-year experience in redo surgery for failure of mitral valve repair (MVRep) in degenerative disease. METHODS From 1987 to 2006, 43 consecutive patients (32 males) underwent either redo MVRep (n = 21) or redo mitral valve replacement (n = 22) for failure of MVRep. Age ranged from 10 to 78 years (median, 59 years). Forty-one patients (95%...

Background—Durability assessment of mitral valve repair for degenerative valve incompetence is actually limited to reoperation as the primary indicator, with valve-related risk factors for late death as a secondary indicator. We assessed serial echocardiographic follow-up of valve function as an indicator of the durability of mitral valve repair. Methods and Results—In 242 patients who had unde...

BACKGROUND Apical ballooning syndrome (or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy) is a syndrome of transient left ventricular apical ballooning. Although first described in Japanese patients, it is now well reported in the Caucasian population. The syndrome mimicks an acute myocardial infarction but is characterised by the absence of obstructive coronary disease. We describe a serious and poorly understood c...