Brit. Heart J., 1967, 29, 943.
CASE REPORTS
Duplication of the Tricuspid Valve
A. SANCHEZ CASCOS, P. RABAGO, AND M. SOKOLOWSKI
From the Cardiac Department, Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, Madrid, Spain
Duplication of an atrio-ventricular valve is a rare
anomaly. In most instances the double, or even
triple, atrio-ventricular orifice is on the left sidethe so-called "double mitral valve" (Hartmann,
1937; Wimsatt and Lewis, 1948; Schraft and Lisa,
1950; Prior, 1953; Wigle, 1957; Pachaly and
Schultz, 1962; Edwards et al., 1965). Only exceptional cases of "double tricuspid valve" have been
described (Sinapius, 1954; Pachaly and Schultz,
1962; Neufeld et al., 1960; Edwards et al., 1965).
Another is reported here and a second is briefly
reported.
mitral incompetence (probably produced by the presence
of the catheter), and a small atrial septal defect, possibly
a foramen ovale.
A Brock procedure for pulmonary valve dilatation
was performed (G. Rabago) and an atretic or near
atretic valve was opened to give an outlet to the right
ventricular outflow tract. The immediate result was
good, with relief of cyanosis, but the child died suddenly
24 hours later with cardiac arrest.
Necropsy was limited to the heart. It weighed
110 g. Externally there was a very large right atrium
but the ventricles and great vessels appeared normal.
The right atrial wall was hypertrophied, and there was a
small ostium secundum septal defect. The tricuspid
valve, from its atrial aspect (Figure A) presented two
Case Reports
orifices, one anterior and the other lateral, with its
Case 1. This 11-month-old boy had been deeply medial half occupied by a rigid diaphragmatic septal
cyanosed from birth and was subject to frequent cyanotic cusp. Between the two orifices there was a fibrous band
attacks. On examination he was an underdeveloped from the middle of the septal cusp to the lateral border of
child with central cyanosis and slight clubbing. A the fibrous annulus. The anterior orifice was roughly
coarse systolic thrill was felt over the praecordium, triangular, about 1-5 cm. across; its anterior edge had a
associated with a grade 5/6 pansystolic murmur, with its normal anterior valve cusp whose chords arose from a
maximum intensity in the mitral and tricuspid areas. normal Lancisi's muscle. The lateral orifice was much
There was also an early diastolic triple rhythm; the smaller (less than 5 mm. across), and was guarded by
two rudimentary cusps attached to chordce arising from
second sound was single.
The electrocardiogram showed gross right atrial and two small accessory papillary muscles. Attached by a
ventricular hypertrophy patterns, with right axis devia- delicate fibrous network to the atrial aspect of the septal
tion. The chest x-ray film showed an extremely large, cusp was a small (5 mm.) white nodule (Figure B). Histoglobular heart with ischemic lung fields. The blood logical examination of the nodule revealed a hyaline
constitution and the network seemed to be an atypically
count showed no polycythemia or other abnormality.
The electrocardiographic picture was thought to ex- placed rest of the Chiari network.
The right ventricle was of normal size but its wall was
clude tricuspid atresia or Ebstein's disease. Pulmonary
atresia, with an intact ventricular septum and tricuspid hypertrophied; the septum was intact. The pulmonary
incompetence, seemed the most likely diagnosis. The valve had been opened to produce a 5 mm. orifice, but
patient's condition was very poor, with daily cyanotic the cusps were fused. The left atrium and ventricle
attacks, and the possibility of surgical relief was con- were normal, but the lateral cusp of the mitral valve
sidered. Angiocardiography was, therefore, performed. had short chordc attached directly to the ventricular
The catheter entered the right atrium which was shown wall, resulting in mild incompetence of the valve. The
to be enormously dilated, occupying more than half the aorta and pulmonary artery were normal and the ductus
cardiac silhouette, and then passed to the left atrium and arteriosus had closed.
ventricle; it could not be manipulated into the right
ventricle. An injection of opaque medium into the left
Case 2. This 17-year-old boy is only briefly menventricle showed an intact ventricular septum, mild tioned here, as he was an example of Ebstein's disease,
94:
944
Cascos, Ribago, and Sokolowski
FIG.-A.-Case 1: tricuspid valve, right atrial view, showing bigger anterior orifice, and smaller lateral one.
B.-Case 1: rudimentary atrial network and hyaline tubercle on the tricuspid valve. C.-Case 2: tricuspid
valve, atrial view. The arrow points to the hole on the anterior leaflet. D.-Case 2: tricuspid valve,
ventricular view. The arrow marks the site of the hole, under which a rudimentary papillary muscle and
two small chordee are seen.
and will be reported as such elsewhere. He presented
with slight dyspncea on exertion and precordial pain.
On auscultation a triple rhythm and a pansystolic
murmur were heard. The electrocardiogram showed
large P waves with right bundle-branch block and a
Q wave from Vl-4. The cardiac outline on the chest
x-ray film was globular and the lung fields were oligemic.
Cardiac catheterization was attempted, but the patient
developed ventricular fibrillation which resisted correction.
Necropsy of the heart revealed a large right atrium
with a typical Ebstein's anomaly of the tricuspid valve
which had a normal attachment of the anterior cusp,
while the septal cusp was attached 2-5 cm. below the
annulus fibrosus; the posterior cusp was rudimentary.
The anterior cusp had a 4 mm. hole in its medial part
(Figure C); two small chords. arising from a rudimentary
papillary muscle were attached to the ventricular aspect
of this hole (Figure D).
Discussion
Hartmann (1937) was the first to attempt a classification of the varieties of double atrio-ventricular
valve. He distinguished three types: (1) Type L
("Loch"), in which the secondary orifice is defined
by a constriction in the anterior commissure. This
orifice has two cusps attached to chordae tendinese
arising from the anterior papillary muscle.
(2) Type B ("Brucke"), in which the two orifices
are separated by a fibrous band; each is associated
Duplication of the Tricuspid Valve
945
with one papillary muscle. (3) Type S (" Sonderstellung"), in which the separation of the orifices
is more complete and each has an independent set
of chord. and a papillary muscle.
In this classification Type L is distinct from the
other two, but the latter are less well separated.
There is another variety which has not been included,
so that a better classification would be as follows.
anomaly has been described (Baker, Brinton, and
Channell, 1950), but here the distinction between a
simple fenestration without any subvalvar apparatus
and duplication of the orifice with such apparatus,
as in Case 2, has to be made.
(A) Commissural type (Hartmann's type L) in
which the accessory orifice is at the end of a valve
commissure and its subvalvar apparatus (chordt
and papillary muscle) is the normal one for that
commissure, though sometimes accessory papillary
muscles may be present.
An example of a double tricuspid valve occurring
in association with pulmonary atresia and an intact
ventricular septum is reported. A second case in
association with Ebstein's anomaly of the valve is
briefly mentioned.
A classification of the different varieties of duplication of an atrio-ventricular valve orifice is proposed.
(B) Central type (Hartmann's types B and S).
A fibrous band divides the atrio-ventricular orifice
into either equal or unequal parts.
(C) Hole type. In this variety the accessory
orifice is a hole in a cusp. This form of double
valve orifice is to be distinguished from a simple
fenestration or cleft which has no subvalvar apparatus. It is essential for the identification of duplication of a valve that both orifices should be provided
with a subvalvar apparatus, though this may be
rudimentary for one of them.
On the basis of this classification, Case 1 is an
example of the central type and Case 2 of the hole
type.
The syndrome of pulmonary atresia or extreme
stenosis with intact ventricular septum is well
known. Greenwold et al. (1956) and more recently
Davignon et al. (1961) have emphasized the occurrence of two anatomical types, depending upon the
status of the tricuspid valve. In the commoner
type I, both right ventricle and tricuspid valve are
minute; these hearts typically present anomalous
connexions between the coronary arteries and the
right ventricular cavity through persistent coronary
sinusoids.
The rarer type II has a right ventricle which is
normal or enlarged, with a tricuspid valve which is
deformed and incompetent. The deformity often
resembles that of the Ebstein's anomaly (Davignon
et al., 1961; Elliott, Adams, and Edwards, 1963;
Caddell and Whittemore, 1963). In other cases
there is a less specific abnormality or an absence of
tricuspid valve tissue which produces valvar incompetence (Davignon et al., 1961; Benton et al.,
1962; Elliott et al., 1963; De Raibago et al., 1964;
Kanjuh et al., 1964). To our knowledge, duplication of the tricuspid valve has not hitherto been
reported in this condition.
Fenestration of the tricuspid valve in Ebstein's
Summary
We are indebted to Dr. Dennis Deuchar, of the Cardiac
Department, Guy's Hospital, London, who kindly revised the text and gave us valuable suggestions.
References
Baker, C., Brinton, W. D., and Channell, G. D. (1950).
Ebstein's disease. Guy's Hosp. Rep., 99, 247.
Benton, J. W., Elliott, L. P., Adams, P., Anderson, R. C.,
Hong, C. Y., and Lester, R. G. (1962). Pulmonary
atresia and stenosis with intact ventricular septum.
Amer. J. Dis. Child., 104, 161.
Caddell, J. L. and Whittemore, R. (1963). Pulmonary atresia
with dilated right ventricle. A case with congenital
atrial flutter. Amer. J. Cardiol., 12, 254.
Davignon, A. L., Greenwold, W. E., DuShane, J. W., and
Edwards, J. E. (1961). Congenital pulmonary atresia
with intact ventricular septum. Clinicopathologic correlation of two anatomic types. Amer. Heart_7., 62, 591.
De Rabago, P., Sokolowski, M., Sanchez Cascos, A., and
Varela de Seijas, J. R. (1964). El sindrome de atresia
o estenosis extrema de arteria pulmonar con tabique
interventricular normal. Rev. esp. Cardiol., 17, 352.
Edwards, J. E., Carey, L. S., Neufeld, H. N., and Lester,
R. G. (1965). Congenital Heart Disease. Correlation
of Pathologic Anatomy and Angiocardiography. Saunders,
Philadelphia and London.
Elliott, L. P., Adams, P., Jr., and Edwards, J. E. (1963).
Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum.
Brit. Heart J., 25, 489.
Greenwold, W. E., DuShane, J. W., Burchell, H. B., Bruwer,
A., and Edwards, J. E. (1956). Congenital pulmonary
atresia with intact ventricular septum: two anatomic
types. Proc. 29th Sci. Sess., Amer. Heart Ass., page 51.
(Abstract in Circulation, 14, 945 (1956).)
Hartmann, B. (1937). Zur Lehre der Verdoppelung des
linken Atrioventrikularostiums. Arch. Kreisl.-Forsch.,
1, 286.
Kanjuh, V. I., Stevenson, J. E., Amplatz, K., and Edwards,
J. E. (1964). Congenitally unguarded tricuspid orifice
with coexistent pulmonary atresia. Circulation, 30,
911.
Neufeld, H. N., McGoon, D. C., DuShane, J. W., and Edwards, J. E. (1960). Tetralogy of Fallot with anomalous
tricuspid valve simulating pulmonary stenosis with intact septum. Circulation, 22, 1083.
Cascos, Rabago, and Sokolowski
946
Pachaly, L., and Schultz, H. (1962). Zur formalen Genese
der angeborenen Luckenbildungen der Atrioventrikularklappen des Herzens. Frankfurt Z. Path., 71, 531.
Prior, J. T. (1953). Congenital anomalies of the mitral valve.
Two cases associated with long survival. Amer. Heart
J7., 46, 649.
Schraft, W. C., and Lisa, J. R. (1950). Duplication of the
mitral valve. Case report and review of the literature
Amer. Heart J., 39, 136.
Sinapius, D. (1954). Angeborene Tricuspidalinsuffizienz
infolge eines Defektes im vorderen Klappensegel.
Frankfurt. Z. Path., 65, 459.
Wi
gle, E. D. (1957). Dupicaton of the mitral valve.
Bi.HatJ,1,26
Wimsatt, W. A., and Lewis, F. T. (1948). Duplication of the
mitral valve and a rare apical interventricular foramen
in the heart of a yak calf. Amer. J. Anat., 83, 67.