six patients with mitral stenosis complicated by renal artery embolism studied prospectively are presented. in five patients there was unilateral and in one patient bilateral renal artery involvement. the diagnosis was confirmed by intravenous pyelography, retrograde pyelography, renal angiography, renal scan or a combination of these. all had atrial fibrillation, proteinuria and elevated ldh l...

T he hammock mitral valve is a rare congenital abnormality resulting in mitral stenosis, mitral regurgitation, or both. Although sometimes technically challenging, the repair of such lesion is possible and should be preferred to mitral valve replacement. We describe here for the first time the case of an adult patient who underwent mitral valve repair for severe mitral regurgitation related to ...

BACKGROUND Fetuin-A is a multifunctional hepatic secretory protein that inhibits dystrophic vascular and valvular calcification. Lower serum fetuin-A concentrations are associated with valvular calcification in persons with end-stage renal disease. Whether fetuin-A is associated with valvular calcification in other patient populations is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS We evaluated the associati...

The present report describes a male newborn with a pulsatile structure beneath the sternum. Echocardiography showed common atrium, a single ventricle, mitral atresia, double outlet right ventricle, subpulmonary stenosis, small pulmonary artery branches, and a thin walled ventricular diverticulum suggestive of Cantrell's syndrome. The diverticulum was resected to prevent life threatening events ...

The value of pulsed Doppler echocardiography in the assessment of mitral stenosis was studied in a consecutive series of 175 patients before rightand left-heart catheterization. All Doppler recordings were interpreted independently by two observers. Twenty patients had repeat studies to demonstrate the reproducibility of the method. Adequate recordings were obtained in 156 patients. A normal fl...

M itral valve leaflets consist of thin, pliable, fibrous material. The two leaflets—anterior and posterior—open by unfolding against the ventricular wall and close by apposition when the pressure in the left ventricle becomes greater than that in the left atrium. Mitral stenosis occurs when the mitral valve leaflets become stiffened, calcified, and unable to open completely during diastole. Thi...

The value of pulsed Doppler echocardiography in the assessment of mitral stenosis was studied in a consecutive series of 175 patients before rightand left-heart catheterization. All Doppler recordings were interpreted independently by two observers. Twenty patients had repeat studies to demonstrate the reproducibility of the method. Adequate recordings were obtained in 156 patients. A normal fl...

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...

The echocardiographic motion of the aortic root reflects, in part, left atrial filling and emptying. Patients with mitral valve obstruction were studied to determine whether clinically important alterations in patterns of left atrial emptying would alter motion of the posterior aortic wall. Patients with mitral stenosis had a characteristic pattern of slowing of left atrial emptying in early di...

BACKGROUND Eight patients with severe congenital mitral stenosis underwent double transseptal, double-balloon valvuloplasty; two had isolated congenital mitral stenosis, six had additional cardiac defects, and one had previous surgical valvotomy. Ages ranged from 0.6 to 36 years (median, 9 years). METHODS AND RESULTS All procedures were tolerated well. After valvuloplasty, the left atrial a w...