Importance of accurate diagnosis using real-time three-dimensional
echocardiography in the surgical treatment of congenital intramitral
ring in infants
Congenital mitral ring is a rare type of congenital mitral stenosis. There are two types of mitral ring: the intramitral ring and the supramitral
ring. Intramitral rings are often associated with complex valve pathology, and therefore have a worse prognosis than supramitral rings,
in which the mitral apparatus is usually normal. The role of echocardiography in the evaluation of the mitral valve apparatus is crucial,
because it allows an identification of the types of malformation, their hemodynamic repercussion and early predictors of the outcome. We
describe two cases of intramitral ring, the diagnostic challenge they provided, and the value of the information obtained using real-time
three-dimensional echocardiography in such cases