[Acute mitral valve insufficiency caused by a broken mitral valve prosthesis].

Breaks in a mechanical heart valve prosthesis with resulting acute valvar insufficiency are extremely rare. The case is reported of a 49-year-old man who, two-and-a-half years after implantation of a mitral valve prosthesis, suddenly went into acute cardiogenic shock, after having been in good health since the valve replacement. Although the symptoms were unequivocal, the correct diagnosis was not made for more than 40 hours. Emergency re-operation could not prevent death from severe interstitial pulmonary oedema with hyaline membranes. Within the last 20 years 25 similar cases have been reported.