[Choice of the size and shape of a mitral valve prosthesis].

The authors discuss the results of mitral valve replacement in 438 patients with intraoperative selection of the prosthesis and in 77 patients with preoperative selection by means of an original method based on two-dimensional echocardiography. The intraoperative selection proved to be insufficiently effective: in the postoperative periods 13.9 +/- 2.