MITRAL VALVE AREA: MEASUREMENT SOON AFTER CATHETERIZATION. REPORT OF A CASE

A rare opportunity to measure mitral valve area at autopsy shortly after its estimation by means of cardiac catheterization was afforded without the complicating influences of surgery, subacute bacterial endocarditis, smouldering rheumatic valvulitis, or a long enough time interval between catheterization and postmortem study for increased stenosis or increased cardiomegaly to occur. The postmortem estimation of mitral valve area varied between 75 and 213 per cent greater than the mitral valve area estimated from cardiac catheterization data.