Diastolic murmurs in the presence of Starr-Edwards mitral prosthesis.

Diastolic murmurs associated with the Starr-Edwards mitral prosthesis have not been described previously. In this report, five patients with mitral prostheses are described in whom apical mid-diastolic and presystolic murmurs resulted from two different causes. Three patients had clots obstructing the prosthetic orifice. The other two had normally functioning protheses and moderately severe aortic insufficiency. The occurrence of mid-diastolic and presystolic murmurs in the presence of a normally functioning prosthetic mitral valve demonstrates that 1) the mid-diastolic Austin Flint murmur can occur in the absence of incomplete mitral valve opening, premature mitral valve closure, vibrating mitral leaflets, or relative mitral stenosis and 2) the presystolic Austin Flint murmur can occur in the absence of incomplete valve opening or presystolic mitral regurgitation. However, the presystolic murmur was associated with early closure movement of the presthetic poppet.