Mitral valve stenosis

Abstract

Mitral stenosis is an important valvular lesion that when encountered both in the developing world and the developed world requires accurate assessment. The mitral valve area is the key parameter that should be used to assess severity. Morphological assessment of the entire valve apparatus is required to identify rheumatic versus non-rheumatic aetiology as well the subgroup of patients who may benefit from percutaneous mitral commisurotomy. Three-dimensional transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography provide additive qualitative and quantitative data to the aforementioned key imaging requirements. Tomographic imaging (CT/MRI) are mainly utilized when echocardiography is not feasible. Imaging techniques are vital to aid diagnosis and explore therapeutic options in degenerative mitral stenosis but require further refinement with regard to accuracy of diagnosis and selection of optimal quantitative techniques.