Minimally invasive mitral valve repair is based on several procedural concepts. Recently, three of them have been intensively discussed: aortic occlusion strategy, use of Goretex-Neo-Chordae to repair mitral valve regurgitation and feasibility and efficacy of the minithoracotomy approach in mitral valve treatment of patients after previous cardiac surgery. Twenty years of experience in minimall...

Twenty patients with mitral insufficiency (MI) due to ruptured chordae tendineae, papillary muscle infarction, or left ventricular enlargement with no organic disease of the mitral valve have been studied during the past 3 years. Nineteen had valve replacement, and one had plastic repair of ruptured chordae tendineae; all have been followed from 6 months to 3 years. Preoperative data were diffe...

As the mitral valvular apparatus tenses during systole, forces transmitted along the chordae tendineae to the left ventricular chamber may influence left ventricular performance. To test this hypothesis, 10 dogs anesthetized with fentanyl were studied during cardiopulmonary bypass. The importance of the mitral apparatus in left ventricular systolic function was assessed independent of load by m...

Cardiac myxomas are one of the most common types of primary cardiac tumors and are associated with embolization, angina, and sudden death. Most cardiac myxomas arise from the fossa ovalis, while those that arise from the mitral valve are exceedingly rare and those that arise from the chordae are even rarer. We report the case of a 28-year-old Caucasian woman who suffered from a brain infarction...

BACKGROUND Artificial chordae replacement is an effective technique for mitral valve repair, however, it is difficult to accurately determine the length of artificial chordae. This study aimed to assess the reliability and accuracy of real-time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to predict the length of artificial chordae preoperatively. METHODS From December 2008 to Dec...

The hearts of three children who died with Duchenne's progressive muscular dystrophy and features of mitral valve prolapse were examined to find if the valve disorder arose from cardiomyopathy due to the primary disease or from dystrophic changes in th mitral valve itself. Gross, histologic and ultrastructural features of mitral valve annulus, anterior and posterior leaflets, chordae tendineae,...

mission when he suddenly developed severe dyspnea and symptoms of congestive heart failure. Physical examination, ECG, x-ray examination and catheterization of the heart suggested severe mitral regurgitation with left and right heart failure. He was scheduled for operation with the diagnosis of ruptured chordae of the mitral valve with severe mitral incompetence. At operation, all chordae of th...

Duplication of mitral valve is a very rare anomaly. It is characterized by two independent mitral valve apparatuses (leaflets and annulus) and subvalvular apparatuses (chordae and papillary muscles) that function well by themselves. In this report, we present duplicate mitral valve with parachute chordal attachment and mitral stenosis in an infant. The patient was successfully treated with the ...

A rare case of anomalous chordae tendineae associated with mitral valve dysplasia was observed during necropsy in a 5year-old male Persian cat with a history of sudden death. Grossly, there was thickening of the mitral valve, which was connected to numerous, short and thickened chordae tendineae that were ectopically inserted into the myocardium. In addition, marked left atrial dilation and pul...

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 ...