We studied 57 consecutive patients with mitral valvular heart diseases at echocardiography laboratory at Kyung Hee University hospital consisted of 19 males and 38 females. The mean age was 48 years, ranged from 18 to 80 years old. Fortyeight patients had rheumatic mitral valvular disease, 4 patients had mitral anular calcification and 5 patients had flail mitral valve. The study population consisted with Group I(definite calcification), Group II(possible calcification), and Group III(no calcification) by criteria of Wong at al., analyzed by frame of recorded videotape. The calcification of mitral leaflet and/or anulus was found in 49 patients(85.9%). Doppler echocardiography was performed with pulsed and continuous wave Doppler system in same transducer and mapping technique in left atrium was used for assessment of mitral regurgitation.

Mitral regurgitation was found 18/21(85.7%) in Group I, 22/28(78.7%) in Group II, and 6/8(75.0%) in Group III. The incidence of mitral regurgitation in all study population was 80.7%.

In 44 patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis, 11 patients had no regurgitation, 11 with mild, 12 with moderate, 10 with severe mitral regurgitation. In 13 patients without mitral stenosis, only one patient had mild regurgitation and 12 patients had severe mitral regurgitation.

Conclusion: In patients with calcification of mitral leaflet and/or anulus, Doppler echocardiography is useful to detect and quantify mitral regurgition easily and accurately.