The pathological anatomy of surgically reconstructable or prosthetically correctable congenital valvular malformation of the mitral region.

The special pathology of reconstructable or only prosthetically correctable congenital malformations of the mitral valve is described on the basis of the following examples taken from our own operative and autopsy material of the last 5 years: 1. Congenital isolated mitral stenosis in female twins (7 month old infant and 33 month old child). 2. Congenital isolated mitral insufficiency in a 7 1/2 year old boy. 3. Combined mixed mitral valve malformations with a parachute valve-like mitral valve anomaly, combined with hypoplasia of the ascending and descending aortas, in a 6 1/2 year old girl. 4. Congenital mitral insufficiency with a parachute mitral valve, combined with supravalvular aortic stenosis and multiple peripheral stenoses of the pulmonary arteries in a 13 1/4 year old boy. 5. Insufficiency of the mitrally inverted tricuspid valve with so-called corrected transposition of the great vessels in a 6 year old boy and with Ebstein's anomaly in a 2 1/2 year old boy. 6. A second mitral ostium in the aortic mitral leaflet with a partial atrioventricular canal in a 6 3/4 year old girl with Ellis-van Creveld syndrome. 7. Bland-White-Garland syndrome with relative mitral insufficiency in a 5 month old and a 4 month old boy. Despite the recurrence of similar and comparable findings, each of our cases of congenital or early acquired noninfectious mitral valve malformation was formally different. n his was also true for the cases of congenital isolated mitral stenosis in twins. Therefore, surgical correction requires a unique procedure for each case. It is possible to reliably infer the degree of malfunction of the atrioventricular valve in a mitral position from the special pathology only by considering the clinical data. On the other hand, a detailed evaluation of congenital mitral valve malformations is possible only through direct inspection--either by the surgeon or through an autopsy--despite modern cardiodiagnostic methods. Typical secondary findings are also discussed--for instance, endocardial fibrosis of the left atrium and the configuration of the heart. The anatomical prerequisites for surgical reconstruction or replacement of the valve with a prosthesis are mentioned.