[Observations on prolapse of the aortic cusps].

The patterns of valve motion were analyzed in 14 patients with combined aortic and mitral valve prolapse by two-dimensional echocardiography. Four patients have also tricuspid valve prolapse. In one we could find evidence of a myxomatous pulmonic valve with prolapse of the posterior cusp. By two-dimensional echocardiography all patients had redundant aortic leaflets bulging into left ventricular outflow tract during diastole. M-mode examination of the aorta was normal in five patients; eccentricity of the diastolic aortic valve echo was found in two patients; seven showed multiple echoes from the valve leaflets, with diastolic fluttering. The aortic valve was visualized in the left ventricular outflow tract during diastole in one patient. The size of the aortic root was normal in all. Six patients had transient ischemic cerebral attacks and no evidence of extracranial or intracranial vascular disease by angiography. As polyvalvular prolapse as demonstrated by echo suggest a myxomatous degeneration of the valves, we hypothesize that there may be a causal relationship between TIA and this type of pathological process.