To compare mitral valve area in rheumatic mitral valve stenosis with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and conventional transthoracic echocardiography.

Clinical assessment of severity of mitral stenosis depends on both the presence of symptoms and mitral valve area . Evaluation of mitral valve area with transthoracic echocardiography maintains rapid, accurate analysis of valve disease and serves as a practical gold standard for clinical evaluation. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) is a recently used method that allows to evaluate cardiac structures and function noninvasively. Direct visualization of valve area with CMRI is also possible and it has been shown that the valve area assessed by CMRI planimetry correlates reliably with the invasive assessment. Velocity-encoded cardiac magnetic resonance imaging can be used to quantify mitral valve area. The objective of this study was to evaluate mitral valve area with CMRI and compare it with echocardiographic methods including 2D planimetry, Doppler continuation equation and Doppler pressure half-time

Inclusion Criteria:

• rheumatic mitral valve stenosis

Exclusion Criteria:

• Degenerative mitral valve disease
• EF<50%
• atrial fibrillation
• inconclusive planimetric assessment
• moderate or severe mitral regurgitation
• moderate or severe aortic regurgitation
• history of previous mitral valve commissurotomy or balloon valvotomy

tertiary care clinic