Surgical Echocardiography of the Mitral Valve: Focus on 3D.

The mitral valve remains a complex structure where multiple forms of pathology can be seen. Mitral regurgitation continues to be one of the most common valvular diseases in the industrialized world. While intraoperative 2-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography has been commonplace for some time, 3-dimensional technology has emerged and has shown great benefit for diagnosis and guidance during mitral valve surgery. In the hands of a trained sonographer, high-quality real-time images can easily be obtained and correlate well with gross anatomical findings. The use of multiple angled views and color Doppler within 3-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography has become a valuable asset in the understanding and interpretation of the mitral valve for surgical interventions.