ASSESSMENT OF FLAIL MITRAL LEAFLETS BY DYNAMIC 3-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC IMAGING

In mitral valve repair in patients with a flail mitral leaflet, proper recognition of involved lesions is extremely important for the surgeo n.(1,2) However, the operators have to reconstcuct isolated tomographi c views of the mitral valve mentally into 3-dimensional images to unde rstand spatial relations of the involved lesion from conventional 2-di mensional images. Dynamic 3-dimensional images provide more realistic visualization of cardiac morphology compared with 2-dimensional echoca rdiography.(3-9) Furthermore, multiplane transesophageal echocardiogra phy (TEE) enables 3-dimensional reconstructions of the mitral valve to be produced from high-quality multiple 2-dimensional images by rotati on of the transducer without changing its position.(7,10-13) Although there are some reports demonstrating 3-dimensional images of the mitra l valve,(5-7,9) there have been no systematic studies regarding the ev aluation of the involved leaflet in patients with a flail mitral leafl et by dynamic 3-dimensional images. The purpose of this study was to e valuate the diagnostic accuracy of 3-dimensional echocardiographic ima ges in assessing the involved lesion in patients with a flail mitral l eaflet.