Real-Time 3D Echocardiography: A New Gold Standard for Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis Assessment

Real-Time 3D echocardiography allows us to visualize every cardiac structure in any desired plane orientation, including the mitral valve. In this article we describe the recent advances in the assessment of the mitral valvular area and mitral valve anatomy by means of the use of Real-Time 3D echocardiography. Real-Time 3D echocardiography has been shown as a useful tool to evaluate those patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis. It provides accurate information regarding the mitral valvular area and mitral valvular score in this kind of patients. Furthermore, Real-Time 3D echocardiography could replace the classic method used as the gold standard for the quantification of the mitral valvular area: the Gorlin's method. In this work, the experience of the Cardiovascular Unit of the Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid, Spain is presented.