title: Three patients with signs of acute flail mitral leaflet seen on emergency department echo: a critical constellation within the focused cardiac exam.
abstract: Acute flail mitral leaflet is a time-sensitive, reversible cause of cardiogenic shock. Transthoracic echocardiography (echo) is increasingly becoming a vital tool for non-cardiologist physicians who treat patients with undifferentiated chest pain and dyspnoea. The sonographic abnormalities seen in acute flail mitral leaflet are within the boundaries of a focused echo. Individually, these findings are non-specific. As a constellation, however, they are highly suggestive of this disease process. We present a case series of three patients with acute flail mitral leaflet seen on emergency department echo along with a discussion of the findings and the disease itself.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency MedicineWellington Regional HospitalWellingtonNew Zealand; Department of Emergency MedicineYale UniversitySchool of MedicineNew HavenCTUSA.
authors.forename: J Scott
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bomann
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine Wellington Regional Hospital Wellington New Zealand.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stephenson
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine Wellington Regional Hospital Wellington New Zealand.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine Wellington Regional Hospital Wellington New Zealand.
authors.forename: Pras
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine Yale University School of Medicine New Haven CT USA.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moore
keywords: chordae tendineae; echocardiography; mitral valve insufficiency; papillary muscles