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CLINICAL STUDIES

Restricted diastolic opening of the mitral leaflets in patients with left ventricular dysfunction: evidence for increased valve tethering

^a Cardiac Ultrasound Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Manuscript received November 20, 1997; revised manuscript received April 13, 1998, accepted April 27, 1998.

Address for correspondence: Dr. Robert A. Levine, Cardiac Ultrasound Laboratory, VBK 508, Massachusetts General Hospital, 32 Fruit Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2698

Objectives. We tested the hypothesis that patients with incomplete systolic mitral leaflet closure (IMLC: apically displaced coaptation) also have restricted diastolic leaflet opening that is independent of mitral inflow volume and provides evidence supporting increased leaflet tethering.

Background. Competing hypotheses for functional mitral regurgitation (MR) with IMLC include global left ventricular (LV) dysfunction per se (reduced leaflet closing force) versus geometric distortion of the mitral apparatus by LV dilation (augmented leaflet tethering). These are inseparable in systole, but restricted leaflet motion has also been observed in diastole, and attributed to reduced mitral inflow.

Methods. Diastolic mitral leaflet excursion and orifice area were measured by two-dimensional echocardiography in 58 patients with global LV dysfunction, 36 with and 22 without IMLC, compared with 21 normal subjects. The biplane Simpson’s method was used to calculate LV ejection volume, which equals mitral inflow volume in the absence of aortic regurgitation.

Results. The diastolic mitral leaflet excursion angle was markedly reduced in patients with IMLC compared with those without IMLC, whose ventricles were smaller, and normal subjects (17 ± 10° vs. 58 ± 13° vs. 67 ± 8°, p < 0.0001). Excursion angle was dissociated from mitral inflow volume (r² = 0.04); excursion was reduced in patients with IMLC despite a normal inflow volume in the larger ventricles with MR (60 ± 25 vs. 61 ± 12 ml in normal subjects, p = NS), and excursion was nearly normal in patients without IMLC despite reduced inflow volume (40 ± 10 ml, p < 0.001 vs. normal subjects). The anterior leaflet when maximally open coincided well with the line connecting its attachments to the anterior annulus and papillary muscle tip (angular difference = 3 ± 7° vs. 25 ± 9° vs. 32 ± 10° in patients with and without IMLC vs. normal subjects, p < 0.0001). In patients with IMLC, the leaflet tip orifice was smaller in an anteroposterior direction but wider than in the other groups, giving a normal total area (6.8 ± 1.8 vs. 7.1 ± 1.2 vs. 6.9 ± 0.8 cm², p = NS).

Conclusions. Patients with LV dysfunction and systolic IMLC also have restricted diastolic leaflet excursion that is independent of inflow volume, coincides with the tethering line connecting the annulus and papillary muscle and reflects limitation of anterior motion relative to the posteriorly placed papillary muscles without a decrease in total orifice area. These observations are consistent with increased tethering by displaced mitral leaflet attachments in the dilated ventricles of patients with IMLC that can restrict both diastolic opening and systolic closure.

Abbreviations and Acronyms   ANOVA = analysis of variance   IMLC = incomplete mitral leaflet closure   LV = left ventricular   MR = mitral regurgitation   PM = papillary muscle

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