Mitral regurgitation resulting from the consecutive multiple perforations by infective endocarditis mimicking the isolated anterior mitral cleft

SummaryA 60-year-old man, suffering from sustained cough and dyspnea on effort, was diagnosed as congestive heart failure. He did not yield the history of having fever or other inflammatory events. His physical examination disclosed a pan-systolic murmur at the apex. Transthoracic color Doppler echocardiography showed moderate to severe mitral regurgitation originated from the linear tear of the anterior mitral leaflet. The tear reached to the mid-portion of the leaflet just within the postero-medial commissure and the regurgitant flow convergence was not hemispheric, but box-like shaped, suggesting that the linear tear was the isolated mitral cleft. Transesophageal echocardiography showed the almost same findings and we found no other anomalies. Surgical treatment was selected to repair the mitral regurgitation. Under operation, we found three consecutive perforations located linearly in the anterior mitral leaflet. The mitral valve replaced with the prosthetic one. The pathological examination of the resected valve showed mucinous degeneration of the chordae tendineae and fibrinoid change without inflammatory cellular infiltration. These findings were compatible with the healed infective endocarditis. Here we experienced a curious case of mitral regurgitation, caused by consecutive three mitral perforations mimicking the isolated anterior mitral cleft