Back to Journals » International Journal of General Medicine » Volume 5

Relationship between incidentally detected calcification of the mitral valve on 64-row multidetector computed tomography and mitral valve disease on echocardiography

Authors Toufan, Javadrashid, Paak, Gojazadeh, Khalili M

Received 14 May 2012

Accepted for publication 21 August 2012

Published 10 October 2012 Volume 2012:5 Pages 839—843

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S33665

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 3



Mehrnoush Toufan,1 Reza Javadrashid,2 Neda Paak,2 Morteza Gojazadeh,3 Majid Khalili4

1Cardiovascular Research Center, 2Department of Radiology, 3Medical Philosophy and History Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 4Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan

Background: Mitral valve calcification is often incidentally detected on chest computed tomography (CT) scans obtained for a variety of noncardiac indications. In this study, we evaluated the association between mitral valve calcification incidentally detected on chest CT and the presence and severity of mitral valve disease on echocardiography.
Methods: Of 760 patients undergoing 64-row multidetector CT of the chest, 50 with mitral valve calcification and 100 controls were referred on for echocardiography. Calcifications of the mitral valve leaflet and annulus were assessed for length, Agatston score, and site, and were compared with echocardiographic findings.
Results: Mitral valve calcification was noted in 59 (7.7%) patients on multidetector CT. Fifty of these patients were assessed by echocardiography, and 32 (64%) were found to have mitral annular calcification. Nine patients (18%) had posterior mitral valve leaflet calcification, and both mitral valve leaflet and annular calcification were detected in nine (18%) cases. Nine (18%) patients had mild, three (6%) had moderate, and one (2%) had severe mitral stenosis. None of the patients with isolated mitral annular calcification had mitral stenosis; however, all the patients with mitral stenosis showed mitral valve leaflet calcification with or without mitral annular calcification (P < 0.001). Moreover, patients with mitral stenosis had a larger mitral calcification length and greater Agatston scores in comparison with those without mitral stenosis (P = 0.001). While 31 patients (62%) with mitral calcification had mitral regurgitation on echocardiography, 21 (21%) in the control group showed mitral regurgitation (P = 0.001).
Conclusion: Mitral valve leaflet calcification, with or without annular calcification, may be an indicator of mitral stenosis. Mitral calcification can also be considered as an indicator for mitral regurgitation in general. Therefore, patients with mitral valve calcification detected incidentally on chest CT scan may benefit from functional assessment of the valve using echocardiography.

Keywords: mitral annular calcification, mitral valve leaflet calcification, multidetector computed tomography, mitral regurgitation, mitral stenosis

Creative Commons License © 2012 The Author(s). This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.