Diagnosis of Tricuspid Valve Prolapse by Echocardiography

Abstract

Although tricuspid valve prolapse has been demonstrated by angiography, its detection by echocardiography has not been reported. Nine patients were noted to have tricuspid valve prolapse by echocardiography. The group consisted of one patient with Ebstein’s anomaly who also had prolapse of the mitral valve; four patients with mitral valve prolapse, two patients with coronary arterv disease; one patient with idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis, and one patient with isolated tricuspid valve prolapse. The diagnosis was confirmed at operation in two patients. Only one of these nine patients had clinically significant tricuspid incompetence. The pattern of tricuspid valve prolapse (TVP) seen on the echocardiogram was similar to that observed in mitral valve prolapse (MVP). Either a posterior movement of the tricuspid valve in mid systole or a hammock like posterior movement in systole was observed in all the patients. We conclude that; (1) Echocardiography is a useful tool in the diagnosis of TVP; (2) TVP mav be associated with MVP.