Mitral valve stenosis gradient across the mitral valve increases, the amount of time necessary to fill the left ventricle with blood increases. Eventually, the left ventricle requires the atrial kick to fill with blood. As the heart rate increases, the amount of time that the ventricle is in diastole and can fill up with blood (called the diastolic filling period) decreases. When the heart rate goes above a certain point, the diastolic filling period is insufficient to fill the ventricle with blood and pressure builds up in the left atrium, leading to pulmonary congestion. When the mitral valve area goes less than 1
Mitral valve the left ventricle. It has two leaflets (or 'cusps'), an anteromedial leaflet, and a posterolateral leaftlet. The opening of the mitral valve is surrounded by a fibrous ring known as the "mitral annulus". The anterior cusp covers approximately two-thirds of the valve (imagine a crescent moon within the circle, where the crescent represents the posterior cusp). Although the anterior leaflet takes up a larger part of the ring and rises higher, the posterior leaflet has a larger surface area. The valve leaflets are prevented from prolapsing into the left atrium by the action of chordae tendineae. The chordae tendineae are