Mitral regurgitation augments post-myocardial infarction remodeling failure of hypertrophic compensation.

Objectives: We examined whether mitral regurgitation (MR) augments post-myocardial infarction (MI) remodeling.

Background: MR doubles mortality after MI, but its additive contribution to left ventricular (LV) remodeling is debated and has not been addressed in a controlled fashion.

Methods: Apical MIs were created in 12 sheep, and 6 had an LV-to-left atrial shunt implanted, consistently producing regurgitant fractions of approximately 30%.

Software enhanced learning of cardiac auscultation.

Listening to heart sounds during physical exams can offer useful clues to the presence of cardiac disease. Cardiac auscultation is non-invasive, inexpensive and fast. It is also highly unreliable, and requires good hearing and considerable expertise.

A framework for the analysis of acoustical cardiac signals.

Skilled cardiologists perform cardiac auscultation, acquiring and interpreting heart sounds, by implicitly carrying out a sequence of steps. These include discarding clinically irrelevant beats, selectively tuning in to particular frequencies and aggregating information across time to make a diagnosis. In this paper, we formalize a series of analytical stages for processing heart sounds, propose algorithms to enable computers to approximate these steps, and investigate the effectiveness of each step in extracting relevant information from actual patient data.

Usefulness of three-dimensionally guided assessment of mitral stenosis using matrix-array ultrasound.

Two-dimensional (2-D) planimetry is limited by the technical demands, time, and observer variability required to locate the minimal orifice area, limiting the confident clinical reporting of mitral valve area (MVA). In 27 consecutive patients, MVA was determined independently by 2 observers using the conventional 2-D method and a new 3-D-guided method. Using a matrix-array probe, the valve was visualized in a long-axis view and a cursor steered to intersect the leaflet tips and provide a perpendicular short-axis plane viewed side-by-side.

New locus for autosomal dominant mitral valve prolapse on chromosome 13: clinical insights from genetic studies.

Background: Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common disorder associated with mitral regurgitation, endocarditis, heart failure, and sudden death. To date, 2 MVP loci have been described, but the defective genes have yet to be discovered. In the present study, we analyzed a large family segregating MVP, and identified a new locus, MMVP3.

Leaflet concavity: a rapid visual clue to the presence and mechanism of functional mitral regurgitation.

Repairing mitral regurgitation (MR) requires an understanding of its mechanism. Evaluating restricted leaflet closure in functional MR is challenging. Tenting area between leaflets and annulus in long-axis (LAX) views correlates with MR, but is positive even in control subjects; in the 4-chamber view, the incomplete mitral leaflet closure (IMLC) tenting pattern may be subtle and variable.

A locus for autosomal dominant mitral valve prolapse on chromosome 11p15.4.

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common cardiovascular abnormality in the United States, occurring in approximately 2.4% of the general population. Clinically, patients with MVP exhibit fibromyxomatous changes in one or both of the mitral leaflets that result in superior displacement of the leaflets into the left atrium.