The World Heart Federation (WHF) criteria incorporate a Doppler-based system to differentiate between ‘physiological’ and ‘pathological’ mitral regurgitation (MR)—a sole criterion sufficient for the diagnosis of WHF ‘borderline’ rheumatic heart disease (RHD). We have identified that interscallop separations (ISS) of the posterior mitral valve (MV) leaflet, can give rise to pathological MR in an otherwise-normal MV. We aimed to establish and compare the prevalence of ISS-related MR among South African children at high and low risk for RHD.
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