Mitral Valve Disease

The Mitral valve: A brief history.- Anatomical Development of the Left Atrioventricular Valvar Complex.- How should we describe the mitral valve and its component parts?.- The Anatomy of the Mitral Valve.- The surgical utility of a detailed knowledge of the basic sciences pertaining to the Mitral valve.- The atrioventricular valve in the animal kingdom.- The Atrioventricular complex: function and dysfunction.- Mitral Valve Pathology.- Morphogenetic aspects of mitral valve development.- Genetics of Mitral Valve Disease.- Genetics and Genetic Counselling relevant to Mitral Valve Prolapse.- Assessment of mitral valve function: the valve and the ventricle.- Arrhythmias in Mitral Valve Prolapse.- The organisation of specialist valve care provision.

Francis Wells is a recognized leader in the field of mitral and tricuspid valve surgery. He lectures on the subject internationally and has published numerous articles on the topic. He initially trained in London and the United States, before moving to Papworth Hospital as a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon in 1985. His specialist area of cardiac surgical interest is the management of all forms of heart valve disease, especially mitral valve reconstruction. Mr Wells has a large  experience over 37 years of practice. The functionality of the valve has always been a prime interest for him, rather than simply achieving competence often at the expense of normal physiology. This has led to a desire for a deeper understanding of the basic sciences related to the valve and hence the generation of this book. He also has an interest in all aspects of adult cardiac surgery with 25 years experience in cardio-pulmonary transplantation, directing the lung transplant unit at Royal Papworthhospital for 20 years. Mr Wells also ran a full thoracic and Oesophagela practice specialising in surgical oncological management. He was instrumental in setting up the first two stop lung cancer centre in the United Kingdom.




Robert H. Anderson studied medicine at the University of Manchester. He then returned to the Department of Anatomy, having completed his clinical residency appointments. He was offered the chance to continue his researches on cardiac innervation, concentrating on the conduction tissues which led to the chance to collaborate with surgical colleagues in Liverpool, and with electrophysiologists and pathologists in Amsterdam. Having spent a year in Amsterdam, he was then offered the chance to work as clinical anatomist at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. This appointment was supported by the Joseph Levy Foundation, in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation. The support from both Foundations then continued throughout the remainder of