Thoracic Key

In the early years of valve surgery, annular dilatation was considered the primary cause of mitral valve regurgitation. With the exception of McGoon’s techniques of posterior leaflet plication, the usual…

Type II posterior leaflet dysfunction is the most frequent dysfunction in mitral valve regurgitation caused by degenerative valvular disease. It can also be encountered in other etiologies such as bacterial…

A commissural leaflet prolapse is a valve dysfunction typically seen in bacterial endocarditis or in degenerative valvular diseases. The cause of the prolapse is either chordae rupture in bacterial endocarditis…

Besides annular dilatation, the mitral valve annulus can be severely affected by other specific pathological processes, such as extensive calcification or abscesses. In rare circumstances, the annulus may present either…

MITRAL VALVE EXPOSURE After extracorporeal circulation has been instituted, adequate exposure of the mitral valve is mandatory to perform a safe and effective operation. Pericardial adhesions, if present, are released…

Since Général Baron Nicolas Corvisart, Napoléon’s physician, recognized that heart failure may be due to mitral valve regurgitation following chordae rupture, multiple studies have emphasized the extreme complexity of the…

The anatomy of heart valves is usually described with respect to transverse or longitudinal sections of the heart, which provide optimal viewpoints of the heart’s different structures ( Fig. 5-1…

During the cardiac cycle the heart’s four valves ( Fig. 2-1 ) channel blood flow in a single direction: from the atria to the ventricles and from the ventricles to…