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Updated: Oct 7, 2025

Morphological and Functional Assessment of the Right Ventricle Using 3D Echocardiography
Published on: October 28, 2020
Cleft posterior mitral valve leaflet: The added value of 3-dimensional echocardiography
Judy Rizk1, Mohamed Ayman Abdel-Hay1
1Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
Abstract:
A 65-year-old female patient diagnosed with degenerative aortic valve disease and severe regurgitation on transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) also had severe mitral regurgitation (MR), but the exact mechanism of MR could not be determined. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) showed limited leaflet coaptation and a severe central MR jet. Further three-dimensional (3D) imaging revealed an indentation in the middle of P2 scallop almost reaching the annulus. This was consistent with the diagnosis of cleft posterior mitral valve leaflet. Unlike cleft anterior leaflet which can be clear on TTE short-axis images, cleft posterior leaflet may only be visible using 3D TEE. The identification of cleft posterior leaflet is essential in guiding surgical valve repair.
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Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE)
TTE is the most common type of echocardiogram which involves placing a transducer on the patient's chest, emitting sound waves to create heart images. TTE is invaluable for evaluating the heart's size, structure, and motion, making it particularly useful for...

