What is the ideal orientation of a mitral disc prosthesis?
G. POP, G. R. SUTHERLAND, J. ROELANDT, W. VLETTER and E. BOS Thoraxcenter, University Hospital Rotterdam-Dijkzigt and Erasmus University Rotterdam The Netherlands Received 11 May 1988; revised 20 June 1988; . Correspondence: G. R. Sutherland, Deapartment of Echocardiography, Thoraxcenter, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Abstract Doppler colour flow imaging demonstrates normal laminar flow to enter the left ventricle in diastole through the mitral inflow tract located posteriorly in the left ventricle. Laminar flow then passes around the left ventricular apex to the anteriorly located outflow tract. As this is the normal physiologic flow pattern, it would seem appropriate that in the surgical implantation of a mitral tilting disc prosthesis the greater orifice should be directed posteriorly to mimic the normal native valve flow pattern. To determine whether variable positioning of the greater orifice had any significant haemodynamic conse
