Mitral valve surgery in Barlow’s disease

Abstract

Barlow’s disease is a primary or idiopathic degenerative condition of the mitral valve leaflet prolapse with excessive myxomatous altered tissue can be detected on histology. The reason for the onset of this degenerative condition is ill understood. It may commence in childhood, and young adults. The condition has a familial incidence in some cases and in others pectus excavatum or other abnormalities of the bony thorax suggest a generalized disorder of connective tissue. On the other hand, myxomatous degeneration is common in the elderly. It leads to the development of redundant valve tissue and is often associated with excessive elongation of the chordae tendineae or rupture of the chordae. The process may be focal, involving only one scallop or even a portion of one scallop, or it may be diffuse, involving both leaflets.