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mitral regurgitation --> mitral incompetence

(Science: cardiology) The back flow of blood from the left ventricle to the left atrium through a defective mitral bicuspid valve. The most common cause for mitral regurgitation is rheumatic fever.

Other causes include: myocardial infarction, massive calcification of the mitral annulus (in the elderly), lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, infectious endocarditis and ankylosing spondylitis.