Mitral Valve Prolapse—The Role of Cardiac Imaging Modalities

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the most common nonischemic mitral regurgitation etiology and mitral abnormality requiring surgery in the Western world. There is an increasing awareness that pathological findings in MVP are not confined to the valve tissue; rather, it is a complex disease, involving the mitral valve apparatus, cardiac hemodynamics, and cardiac structure. Imaging has played a fundamental role in the understanding of the diagnosis, prevalence, and consequences of MVP. The diagnosis of MVP by imaging is based upon demonstrating valve leaflets ascending into the left atrium through the saddle-shaped annulus. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography are the primary modalities in the diagnosis and assessment of MVP patients and must include careful assessment of the leaflets, annulus, chords, and papillary muscles. High-spatial-resolution imaging modalities such as cardiac magnetic resonance images and cardiac computed tomography play a secondary role in this regard and can demonstrate the anatomical relation between the mitral valve annulus and leaflet excursion for appropriate diagnosis. Ongoing development of new methods of cardiac imaging can help us to accurately understand the mechanism, diagnose the disease, develop an appropriate treatment plan, and estimate the risk for sudden death. Recently, several new observations with respect to prolapse have been derived from cardiac imaging including three-dimensional echocardiography and tissue-Doppler imaging. The aim of this article is to present these new imaging-derived insights for the diagnosis, risk assessment, treatment, and follow-up of patients with MVP.