title: Impressive echocardiographic images of a rare pathology: Aneurysm of the mitral valve - Report of two cases and review of the literature.
abstract: Aneurysm of the mitral valve (AMV) is rarely reported. The etiology of this unusual pathology is commonly attributed to aortic valve endocarditis (AVE) with aortic regurgitation (AR) or connective tissue disease. We present two recent cases of AMV with good correlation between pre-operative trans-esophageal echocardiography (TEE), intra-operative real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3D-Echo) and surgical findings. The importance of diligent surveillance by TEE in patients with AVE for occurrence of AMV is emphasized. The literature on this topic is briefly reviewed.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Cardiology, Saud Al-Babtain Cardiac Center, Dammam, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mustafa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Al-Refai
authors.forename: Farouk M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Oueida
authors.forename: Raphael C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.forename: Shukri M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Al-Saif
authors.forename: Hamed M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Al-Omran
keywords: Aneurysm; Aortic valve endocarditis; Mitral valve; Real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography; Trans-esophageal echocardiography