Mitral insufficiency common cause of primary mitral regurgitation in the United States, causing about 50% of cases. Myxomatous degeneration of the mitral valve is more common in women as well as with advancing age, which causes a stretching of the leaflets of the valve and the chordae tendineae. Such elongation prevents the valve leaflets from fully coming together when the valve closes, causing the valve leaflets to prolapse into the left atrium, thereby causing MI. Ischemic heart disease causes MR by the combination of ischemic dysfunction of the papillary muscles, and the dilatation of the left ventricle. This can lead to the
Mitral valve prolapse Two- and three-dimensional echocardiography are particularly valuable as they allow visualization of the mitral leaflets relative to the mitral annulus. This allows measurement of the leaflet thickness and their displacement relative to the annulus. Thickening of the mitral leaflets >5 mm and leaflet displacement >2 mm indicates classic mitral valve prolapse. Prolapsed mitral valves are classified into several subtypes, based on leaflet thickness, type of connection to the mitral annulus, and concavity. Subtypes can be described as classic, nonclassic, symmetric, asymmetric, flail, or non-flail. All measurements below refer to adult patients; applying them to children may be misleading. Prolapse occurs