查看文章

Mitral regurgitation due to flail leaflet is difficult to manage, because it is frequently asymptomatic yet carries a high risk of left ventricular dysfunction and because the natural history of the condition is poorly defined.

We obtained clinical follow-up data through 1994–1995 in 229 patients with isolated mitral regurgitation due to flail leaflet; this condition was first diagnosed by echocardiography between 1980 and 1989.

The 86 patients who were treated medically had a mortality rate significantly higher than expected (6.3 percent yearly, P = 0.016 for the comparison with the expected rate in the U.S. population according to the 1990 census). Independent determinants of mortality were an older age, the presence of symptoms, and a lower ejection fraction. Patients who were even transiently in New York Heart Association functional class III or IV had a high mortality rate (34 percent yearly …