Question:easy
A young asymptomatic female is observed to have a midsystolic click on routine examination. The valves are likely to show:
A young asymptomatic female is observed to have a midsystolic click on routine examination. The valves are likely to show:
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A midsystolic click equals mitral valve prolapse; recall what makes the leaflet floppy.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Myxomatous degeneration
- Aschoff bodies
- Calcific degeneration
- Ruptured chordae tendineae
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The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
The single most useful clue here is the midsystolic click in a young, well woman picked up by chance. That sound is the signature of mitral valve prolapse, so the question is really asking what changes the valve in this condition.
In mitral valve prolapse the leaflet tissue becomes thick, floppy, and redundant. Microscopically this is myxomatous degeneration, meaning the connective tissue is replaced and expanded by soft mucopolysaccharide material that weakens the leaflet and the chordae. The slack leaflet billows into the left atrium during systole, and the click is the sudden tensing of that leaflet. This makes the first option correct.
The distractors point to other diseases. Aschoff bodies are the granulomatous lesions of rheumatic heart disease, which scars the valve and gives stenosis or chronic regurgitation rather than a lone click. Calcific degeneration stiffens the aortic valve in older patients and produces aortic stenosis. A torn chorda causes sudden, severe mitral regurgitation with a flail leaflet and a symptomatic patient in distress, the opposite of this asymptomatic finding.
So the expected valve change is the soft myxoid one.
$$\boxed{\text{Myxomatous degeneration}}$$
In mitral valve prolapse the leaflet tissue becomes thick, floppy, and redundant. Microscopically this is myxomatous degeneration, meaning the connective tissue is replaced and expanded by soft mucopolysaccharide material that weakens the leaflet and the chordae. The slack leaflet billows into the left atrium during systole, and the click is the sudden tensing of that leaflet. This makes the first option correct.
The distractors point to other diseases. Aschoff bodies are the granulomatous lesions of rheumatic heart disease, which scars the valve and gives stenosis or chronic regurgitation rather than a lone click. Calcific degeneration stiffens the aortic valve in older patients and produces aortic stenosis. A torn chorda causes sudden, severe mitral regurgitation with a flail leaflet and a symptomatic patient in distress, the opposite of this asymptomatic finding.
So the expected valve change is the soft myxoid one.
$$\boxed{\text{Myxomatous degeneration}}$$
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