ASSESSEMENT OF SEVERITY OF MITRAL REGURGITATION BY MITRAL VENA CONTRACTA WIDTH

Abstract

The proper estimation of the degree of mitral regurgitation has a major impact on decision making in the management of patients with this disease. The regurgitant orifice area should be of primary importance because it does not vary greatly from one patient to another with the same degree of mitral regurgitation. As it is hard to directly image the regurgitant orifice in mitral regurgitation. The narrowest region of the jet as it emerges through the coaptation of the leaflets. "The Vena Contracta" should approximate the anatomic regurgitant orifice and thus offers a theoretical advantage over jet area and any imaging modality that is going to be employed to measure the regurgitant orifice area should be able to deliver an imaging plane that is specifically oriented to the coaptation of the mitral valve.