Mitral valve repair by leaflet augmentation with an autologous pericardial patch in rheumatic mitral valve diseases

Rheumatic heart disease is still main cause of valvulopathy in developing countries and often affect young patients> Rheumatic mitral disease is usually accessible to reconstructive surgery The effect of rheumatic disease in mitral valve is usually multifactorial, the most frequent mechanism is leaflet retraction< posterior leafet retraction (type III in Carpentiers classification) occur in almost 60 % of cases< but anterior leafet retraction is less common yhan posterior leaflet retraction.Mitral stenosis is common (39 % of series of chauvad et al>) secandary to commissural fusion or leaflet rigidity> MAIn cause of leaflet retraction is progressive fibrosis of leaflet and subvalvular apparatus>