Eight patients with parachute mitral valve complex were studied. Diagnostic angiocardiographic features stressed are: delay in the emptying of the left atrium; sickle-shaped translucency at the mitral valve area; an eccentric filling defect in the left ventricle as a result of abnormally located, hypertrophied papillary muscle. Clinically, parachute mitral valve complex should be suspected in a patient with coarctation of the aorta and physical findings of mitral valve disease, stenosis or insufficiency, particularly when subaortic stenosis and coarctation of the aorta are present. The correct diagnosis of parachute mitral valve deformity is of major importance when surgical correction is considered. Mitral valve replacement without correction of the subaortic stenosis, frequently associated, may not give the desired results.