title: Mitral leaflet separation index in assessing the severity of mitral stenosis.
abstract: Determining the severity of mitral stenosis (MS) is important for both prognostic and therapeutic reasons. The mitral valve area (MVA) can be measured by planimetry, pressure half-time, continuity equation, and proximal isovelocity surface area methods. In this study, we propose a novel yet simple, independent measure of MS severity-the mitral leaflet separation (MLS) index. This new index could be a useful surrogate measure of the MVA. This index would also help when there is a discrepancy between severities of MS estimated by existing methods, in the presence of atrial fibrillation and in the presence of mitral regurgitation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Kottayam Medical College, Kerala 686008, India.
authors.forename: Joby K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Anoop
authors.forename: Gailin B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Sebastian
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: Raju
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: George