Surgical treatment of the "parachute mitral valve" complex in infancy (report of a case)

The case is presented of a 15-month-old male, affected by severe mitral valve regurgitation associated to aortic coarctation. The surgical treatment consisted in replacement of the mitral valve by a Hancock prosthesis followed, at a second state, by resection of the coarctation. The mitral insufficiency was secondary to an anomaly of the subvalvular apparatus of the "Parachute Valve" type. The incidence of defects associated to congenital mitral insufficiency is commented. The surgical indications for replacement or repair of these anomalies in infancy are discussed, and the surgical results achieved to data are analysed. Emphasis is made on the convenience, in case the corrective procedure requires valvular replacement, of implanting a low-profile biological prosthesis, which does not require anticoagulant therapy.