Mitral valve repair in patients with mirror-image dextrocardia and situs inversus: two cases and a review of the literature

Dextrocardia is a rare cardiac malposition that was first described in 1606. Mirror-image dextrocardia is characterized by a mirror-image change of the normal position of the heart. Most cases are accompanied by situs inversus viscerum, whereas only 3% to 10% of cases are associated with intracardiac anomalies. Valve surgery for acquired valvular lesions in patients with mirror-image dextrocardia with situs inversus is rare. Diagnosing situs anomalies in adults is important to prevent errors during surgical operations, emergency procedures, or interventional operations. In this report, we present two cases of mitral regurgitation in patients with mirror-image dextrocardia. One patient had mirror-image dextrocardia with subacute infective endocarditis and mitral regurgitation, and the other patient had mirror-image dextrocardia with mitral Carpentier type I regurgitation. In both patients, mitral valve repair was successfully performed using a transseptal approach.