- Congenital Mitral Stenosis With or Without Associated Defects - (http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/102/suppl_3/III-166)
- Mitral Stenosis - (http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1486.htm)
- Hospitalization statistics for Mitral valve disease: - (http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/m/mitral_valve_disease/stats.htm#medical_stats))
- Congenital Mitral Stenosis - (http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2517.htm)
- Mitral valve regurgitation - (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000176.htm)
- Heart & Vascular Institute (Miller Family) - (http://www.clevelandclinic.org/heartcenter/pub/guide/disease/valve/mvrepairfaq.htm)
Diagnosis of Mitral Valve Regurgitation
Most often patients with mitral regurgitation are asymptomatic, but symptoms gradually develop. Some of the symptoms are -
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue,
- Palpitations
- Breathing difficulty when lying down (called Orthopnea).
During clinical examination, a physician will be able to identify signs of pulmonary edema and heart failure. On auscultation, a holosystolic murmur suggests mitral regurgitation.
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Chest X-ray reveals the enlargement of the heart chambers.
Electrocardiogram detects the presence of atrial fibrillation. It shows evidence of left atrial enlargement and left ventricular hypertrophy. Old myocardial infarction is also shown in the ECG.
Mitral regurgitation can be confirmed by an echocardiogram. Usually a Doppler echo shows the leaking of blood back into the left atrium. Echo can be also used to measure the chamber sizes and the severity of regurgitation.
Cardiac catheterization is another procedure to confirm mitral regurgitation. Co-existing aortic valve disease or coronary artery disease can also be diagnosed.
