fig1

Figure 1. Mitral valve anatomy: (A) Whereas the anterior mitral annulus is tightly attached to the surrounding structures, the posterior mitral annulus is not as anchored, being the weakest point in the MV annulus. The anterior and posterior leaflets are each arbitrarily divided into three scallops: lateral (A1), central (A2), and medial (A3) and lateral (P1), central (P2), and medial (P3) scallops, respectively. (B) Subvalvular apparatus with primary and secondary tendinous chords and papillary muscles. Adapted from