Volumetric quantitation of leaflet geometry in mitral valve prolapse using three dimensional echocardiography

Summary form only given. A technique to reconstruct topographic mitral leaflet surfaces and measure their 3-D volumetric displacement above the annulus has been developed. It allows quantitative assessment of leaflet position and displacement in both normals and patients with MVP (mitral valve prolapse) and can be used to clarify the significance of proposed clinical and echocardiographic markers of this disease. The technique involves creating a coherent leaflet surface of the closed valve in systole from traces derived from 2-D images and reconstructed in 3-D, finding the plane of least squares fit (LSQP) to the mitral annulus to provide a frame of reference, and measuring either the volume enclosed between the LSQP and the leaflet surface above it, or the volume between the leaflet surface and a plane parallel to the LSQP and passing through the high points of the annulus. For ten normal subjects and five patients with MVP, the displacement above the LSQP was significantly higher in the latter, and displacement above the high points of the annulus occurred only in MVP patients