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...

Described in three infants is an anomaly of the mitral valvular mechanism which has the following characteristic: connection of the left ventricular papillary muscles to the anterior mitral leaflet, either directly or through the interposition of unusually short chordae. The condition has been named "anomalous mitral arcade." The anatomic aberration appears to cause incompetence of the mitral v...

Valvular heart disease remains a major problem worldwide and is responsible for 20 000 deaths each year in the United States, with an estimated 99 000 inpatient valve procedures performed annually.1 The mitral and tricuspid valve complexes comprise the valve leaflets, valvular annulus, papillary muscles, and chordae tendineae, which anchor the leaflets to the papillary muscles. As papillary mus...

Various surgical techniques have been described for the repair of mitral valve with or without using an annuloplasty ring depending upon the pathological changes. Isolated prolapse of the anterior mitral leaflet with severe mitral regurgitation is relatively uncommon compared to prolapse of the posterior mitral leaflet. The technique commonly used is edge-to-edge repair, Chordal transfer and sh...

PURPOSE Degenerative mitral valve disease is distinguished with billowing mitral leaflet (BML) or fibroelastic deficiency (FED). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical characteristics and the pathohistological differences between BML and FED. METHODS A total of 73 patients who diagnosed as degenerative mitral valve disease pathologically after mitral valve surgery for severe mi...

The mitral valve comprises four structures: annulus fibrosus, cusp tissue, chordae tendineae, and papillary muscles. The annulus fibrosus is strong at the base of the aortic cusp, where it forms part of the aortic valve ring, and weak at the base of the mural cusp. From every part of the annulus cusp tissue hangs vertically downwards into the cavity of the left ventricle in the form of a short ...

INTRODUCTION Degenerative mitral regurgitation is currently the most frequent indication for mitral valve repair. AIM To visualize and assess the mid-term results of mitral valve repair with neochordae implantation, using computed tomography angiography (CTA) imaging. MATERIAL AND METHODS The CTA with ECG gating and without modulation was applied in 10 patients to assess the results of a mi...

A previously healthy 18-year-old female presented for evaluation of a 3-month history of fatigue. Other notable findings in the history were progressively worsening dyspnea on exertion, 3-pillow orthopnea, a newly developed cough, and a 20-lb weight loss. The physical examination demonstrated tachypnea, with a respiratory rate of 24 breaths per minute, and the lungs were clear. The heart rate w...

Biochemical analyses and electron microscopy of mitral valve collagen were carried out in 29 patients with various mitral valve diseases. They were divided into 3 groups: (1) rheumatic heart disease (15 patients), (2) isolated rupture of chordae tendineae (8 patients), and (3) floppy mitral valve (6 patients). Normal mitral valves obtained at necropsy from 6 patients who died from extracardiac ...