Echocardiogram Interpretation

[mark194952]

Hi - I was diagnosed with trivial mitral incompetence several years ago. Since then my yearly echo has shown no deteriation until last week when, although the mitral incompetence is no worse, the echo also showed  " a mild degree of systolic anterior movement of the mitral valve chordae with normal LV function." I won't be able to see the cardiologist for some weeks and my physician is clueless so I would be really grateful if someone could tell me what this means, is it serious, should I take precautions when exercising, what's the prognosis and could this resolve itself? I would add that the cardiologist has not suggested any treatment except to monitor the situation with a yearly echo.

With Thanks
Mark

[mark194952]

Thanks for your reply which was really helpful. Do you know if this is a permanent condition or could it resolve itself? Also, can I exercise normally?

[CCF HeartMD6]

Systolic anterior movement of the mitral valve (or SAM) is a condition in which the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve comes in contact with th septum of the left ventricular outflow tract during systole. In otherwords, there is unusual contact of the valve to another part of the heart when it contracts. There are a number of conditions that can cause this (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, abnormal septal hypertrophy, or problems with the mitral valve). However, if you not having symptoms (i.e. shortness of breath, chest discomfort, dizziness, light-headedness, fainting), regular monitoring of this by annual echocardiogram by your cardiologist would be appropriate.