Retinal Artery Emboli Associated with Mitral Valve Prolapse

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the term used to describe an anatomical anomaly of the mitral valve leaflets in which there is a billowing of the mitral leaflets with failure of the leaflet edges to appose normally. Mitral regurgitation occurs, and this is reflected clinically by a mitral systolic murmur and often a mid-late systolic click (1)(2). This entity was first thought to be fairly benign, however, reports of medical complications associated with MVP include sudden death (3), acute myocardial infarction (4), infective endocarditis (5), arrhythmias (6), cerebral ischemic events (7), and agoraphobia (with palpitations) (8).