Isolated cleft mitral valve: valve reconstruction techniques

Reports concerning an isolated cleft of the anterior mitral valve are rare. This congenital anomaly of the mitral valve is usually repaired by suturing the edges of the cleft. We report 4 cases of isolated anterior mitral cleft. The patients ranged in age from 13 to 41 years. The clinical symptoms were those typical of mitral insufficiency. In all 4 patients, preoperative echocardiography was able to establish the exact anatomic diagnosis. In 1 patient, the cleft was directly sutured, whereas, in the other 3 patients, a fibrous reaction of the edges of the cleft with a subsequent lack of valvular tissue made direct suture technically impossible. Instead, the fibrous edges of the cleft were resected and the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve was reconstructed using an autologous pericardial patch pretreated with buffered glutaraldehyde. All 4 patients underwent annuloplasty together with placement of a Carpentier mitral ring. Postoperative echocardiograms have confirmed good results of the repair; 1 patient has a trivial insufficiency and 3 have a completely competent mitral valve.