HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kay, J. H. Articles by Hoffman, R. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kay, J. H. Articles by Hoffman, R. L.

The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 78, 259-268, Copyright © 1979 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association

ARTICLES

Surgical correction of severe mitral prolapse without mitral insufficiency but with pronounced cardiac arrhythmias

JH Kay, BG Krohn, P Zubiate and RL Hoffman

Despite what was considered adequate pharmacological treatment, the condition of six patients with severe mitral valve prolapse but with trivial or no mitral regurgitation deteriorated. These patients had marked weakness, chest pain, dyspnea, and arrhythmias. Because these patients found their condition to be intolerable, the prolapsed mitral valve was repaired. Electrocardiography, treadmill stress testing, and left ventirculography performed following operation showed complete repair of the valve and significant improvement over the preoperative findings in all six patients. Repair of the floppy mitral valve did not eradicate all abnormalities; however, it did significantly improve the chest pain, weakness, dyspnea, and arrhythmias in all six patients. Five patients no longer require any medication. The prolapsed mitral valve contributed significantly to the symptoms and arrhythmias, but it could not have been the sole cause for these patients' signs and symptoms. With complete correction of the prolapse in all six patients, few of the signs and symptoms of the disease persisted. Repair of severe mitral valve prolapse without mitral regurgitation is recommended only for those patients who continue to be severely symptomatic from chest pain, dyspnea, or ventricular arrhythmias after an extensive trial of adequate medical therapy.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. A. Cooley Valve Repair for Mitral Insufficiency Ann. Thorac. Surg., September 1, 1987; 44(3): 330 - 330. [PDF]