Aims- The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is any relation between mitral leaflet motion based on height-to-length ratio of the anterior mitral valve leaflet doming in diastole and the immediate outcome of balloon mitral valvuloplasty,.
Methods- The study population consisted of 49 patients (47 women, mean age: 43.7±13.35 years) with symptomatic rheumatic mitral stenosis who underwent balloon valvuloplasty. Complete transthoracic and transesophageal studies were performed in all the patients before valvuloplasty, and transthoracic study was repeated 24-48 hours after valvuloplasty. The severity of the restriction of the mitral valve leaflet motion was classified based on the heightto- length ratio of the anterior mitral valve leaflet doming. Mitral valve thickness, calcification, subvalvular thickening, and mobility were scored according to the Wilkins system. Optimal immediate outcome of balloon mitral valvuloplasty was defined as a valve area improvement of 50% or more or a final mitral valve area of ³1.5 cm² and mitral regurgitation Sellers' grade ³ 2.
Results- There was a significant relation between the total mitral valve score and its thickness with the optimal immediate post-balloon mitral valvuloplasty results (p value=0.03 and 0.04, respectively), but no relation was found between the Wilkins score and its components with the anterior mitral valve leaflet height-to-length ratio. There was no significant relationship between the amount of increase in the mitral valve area, decrease in trans-mitral pressure gradients, decrease in pulmonary artery pressure, and anterior mitral leaflet height-to-length ratio (all p values>0.05; all the correlation coefficients<0.2).
Conclusions- Our study showed that post-balloon mitral valvuloplasty results are mainly affected by valve thickness and the total Wilkins score. In addition, the severity of mitral leaflet motion restriction in terms of the height-to-length ratio of the anterior mitral valve leaflet has no significant relation with the immediate result of balloon mitral valvuloplasty.