[Echocardiographic diagnosis of mitral valve insufficiency]

Seventy-two persons with various forms of mitral insufficiency of rheumatic and non-rheumatic etiology and 17 healthy individuals (control group) were examined. The results of echocardiography in 35 patients were compared with operative (mitral commissurotomy, valve plastics) findings. Several typical variants of a mitral echogram in patients with "pure", predominant and concomitant mitral insufficiency were distinguished. The predominantly "valvular" mechanism of mitral insufficiency in patients with rheumatic disease and the predominant role of "subvalvular" pathology in nonrheumatic insufficiency were revealed. The diagnostic value of determining the indices of cardiac activity and the size of the left parts of the heart by means of echocardiography is confirmed.