What is the long-term prognosis of patients with echocardiographically documented mitral-valve prolapse, and can echocardiographic features predict complications?
While most patients with mitral-valve prolapse have a benign course, echocardiography can identify high-risk subsets (e.g., redundant leaflets, LV diastolic dimension >60 mm) prone to severe complications.
We determined the long-term prognosis for patients with mitral-valve prolapse documented by echocardiography by following 237 minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic patients for a mean of 6.2 years (range, 1 to 10.4). The actuarial eight-year probability of survival was 88 per cent, which is not significantly different from that for a matched control population. An initial left ventricular diastolic dimension exceeding 60 mm was the best echocardiographic predictor of the subsequent need for mitral-valve replacement (17 patients). Of the 97 patients with redundant mitral-valve leaflets identified echocardiographically, 10 (10.3 per cent) had sudden death, infective endocarditis, or a cerebral embolic event; in contrast, of the 140 patients with nonredundant valves, only 1 (0.7 per cent) had such complications (P less than 0.001). Most patients with echocardiographic evidence of mitral-valve prolapse have a benign course, but subsets at high risk for the development of progressive mitral regurgitation, sudden death, cerebral embolic events, or infective endocarditis can be identified by echocardiography.
Nishimura et al. (Thu,) studied this question.