3D Color Flow Doppler Assessment of Mitral Regurgitation: Advantages over 2D Color Doppler

Mitral regurgitation (MR) remains one of the more challenging valve lesions to assess in clinical practice. Available criteria are often subjective resulting in significant variability in assessment and clinical uncertainty. Quantitation of MR improves diagnostic certainty and has prognostic implications. 3-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3D TEE) with color Doppler imaging, compared to 2-dimensional echocardiography (2DE), has the ability to further refine our understanding of the location and severity of regurgitant jets. Particularly with our current clinical emphasis on surgical mitral valve repair and percutaneous solutions for MR, 3D TEE is critically important to optimize patient outcomes. In this chapter we review the utility of 3D TEE for the assessment of MR, highlighting advantages over 2DE in select circumstances.