One of the most frequent causes of mitral valve prolapse is rupture of the chordae tendineae. Several techniques have been used to correct severe mitral regurgitation. However, mitral valve replacement is the principal surgical approach to it. We describe a technique used in four patients with marked mitral regurgitation due to ruptured chordae tendineae of the anterior leaflet. We have grafted chordae tendineae from the tricuspid valve onto the mitral valve. In the first and fourth case we removed part of the anterior leaflet of the tricuspid valve, together with chordae tendineae and part of the papillary muscle. In the other two cases we removed the posterior leaflet, together with its chordae tendinease and papillarly muscle. In the first and fourth cases the tricuspid valve was repaired. In the other two cases it was turned into bicuspid valve by means of an annular plication. The first extremity of the graft to be sutured was the papillary muscle, followed by the leaflet. Studies carried out 15, 11, 2 and 1 month, postoperatively, showed that both valves, i. e., mitral and tricuspid, were competent and the patients were asymptomatic. In spite of our limited experience, we believe, this technique is a sensible alternative to mitral valve replacement.
cordae tendineae; cordae tendineae; mitral valve; mitral insufficiency