Correlation between left ventriculography, auscultation, and M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography in mitral...

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common valvular abnormality which is observed in as many as 5% of the general population. Although invasive as well as noninvasive tools have been developed to determine the existence of this disorder, none is perfect and false negative as well as false positive diagnoses abound. Because MVP is a relatively benign disorder, it has also not been easy to make the usual clinical-pathological correlations. Left ventriculography is considered by many to be the gold standard, but this designation is probably not deserved. The angiographic criteria used by most do not permit unequivocal separation of normal mitral valve systolic bulging from pathologic MVP, and the interobserver and intraobserver variability of interpretation is high. However, false positive diagnoses can be eliminated if MVP is diagnosed only when para-annular displacement of mitral leaflet tissue is detected during systole rather than simple leaflet bulging. Although mid-systolic clicks and late systolic murmurs have proven to be the auscultatory hallmarks of this disorder, many patients have these signs without other diagnostic findings, consequently making it impossible to confirm the presence of MVP. Furthermore, the appearance of diagnostic echocardiographic abnormalities in patients with normal cardiac examinations implies that auscultation is not a sensitive marker of MVP. Both M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography have technical limitations and the repeatability of interpretation of these tests is disappointingly low (80 to 90%). Because of these difficulties the angiographic-echocardiographic correlation is only fair. Nonetheless echocardiography has generally been accepted as the diagnostic modality of choice. Future technical improvements will likely enhance the diagnostic accuracy of this technique.