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1. Mitral valve prolapse in Marfan syndrome

   • Weekitt Kittisupamongkol, MD

   Hua Chiew Hospital, Bangkok 10100, Thailand

   I read with interest the article by Avierinos and colleagues(1). The authors are not aware of Marfan syndrome which is a common genetic disorder in the United States. The prevalence of mitral valve prolapse in patients with Marfan syndrome is more than 90%(2). Life-threatening complications of such syndrome are aortic root dilatation and aortic dissection(3). However, echocardiographic characteristics in the study do not mention the aorta. This would lead to include the abnormal aorta from Marfan syndrome in the patients presenting with mitral valve prolapse and overestimate mortality rates of mitral valve prolapse accordingly.

   References

   1. Avierinos J, Inamo J, Grigioni F, Gersh B, Shub C, Enriquez-Sarano M. Sex differences in morphology and outcomes of mitral valve prolapse. Ann Intern Med 2008; 149: 787-794

   2. Hayek E, Gring CN, Griffin BP. Mitral valve prolapse. Lancet 2005; 365: 507-18

   3. Judge DP, Dietz HC. Marfan's syndrome. Lancet 2005; 366: 1965-76

   Conflict of Interest:

   None declared

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   Published December 3, 2008