THE CLINICAL PATHOLOGY OF RHEUMATIC MITRAL ENDOCARDITIS

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Abstract
An attempt has been to correlate the clinical findings with the morbid anatomy of the mitral valve in patients suffering from rheumatic mitral endocarditis. All the pathological specimens are bottled laboratory specimens. In no single instance could the clinical findings and the morbidanatomy of the same patient be studied. Furthermore, auscultation only was employed by the author alone in studying the nature of the murmurs and the quality of the first heart sound in the mitral area. No claim is, therefore, made as to the correctness of some of the interpretations. The mitral valve consists of many different parts which, by functioning together, allow the valve to act as a single unit. The anatomical sources of mitral valve dysfunction are, therefore, necessarily multiple. A better understanding of the function of the normal and of the diseased valve may lead to more specific and better surgical techniques to restore normal valve function instead of the strong present-day trend to replace the whole mitral valve with a prosthesis.

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