Perspectives on Mitral-Valve Prolapse

More than three decades ago, Barlow and Bosman described a constellation of clinical findings consisting of non-ejection systolic clicks and a late systolic murmur, T-wave abnormalities, and systolic aneurysmal billowing of the posterior mitral leaflet into the left atrium on left ventriculography.1 Since then, the syndrome of mitral-valve prolapse has been portrayed as the most common form of valvular heart disease, with a reported prevalence of 5 to 10 percent in the general population and an even higher prevalence among young women.2,3 Though it is a predominantly benign condition, devastating complications have been ascribed to mitral-valve prolapse, including cerebral . . .