As transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become routine, device manufacturers and investigational cardiologists have set their sights on the mitral valve. Although transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) poses several technical challenges, they appear to be surmountable, and work is proceeding. Here we review the various devices being developed and preliminary results of trial...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of coronary artery disease in patients undergoing valve surgery at a tertiary care cardiac centre. METHODS The medical records of 144 consecutive patients who underwent mitral, aortic or dual (mitral and aortic) valve replacement surgery at the Tabba Heart Institue between January 2006 to December 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent...

Heart valve replacement is a common cardiac surgical procedure used to treat native valvular diseases such as aortic and mitral stenosis and regurgitation. These procedures reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with diseased native valves and yet come at the expense of prosthetic valve complications. Structural valve degeneration is one such complication. We present a case of a critical...

The hearts of 14 patients dying early after replacement of a calcified aortic or mitral valve were examined for the presence of calcific coronary emboli. The incidence of embolization as shown by x-ray film was 92-9 per cent. The number of emboli in individual cases ranged from 4 to 119. Replacement of an aortic valve was associated with a more severe embolization than replacement of a mitral v...

A 59-year-old male was referred for surgery resulting from a paravalvular leak at the mitral position. The patient underwent his first mitral valve replacement with a Bjork-Shiley valve 33 years before this situation arose. He underwent his second mitral valve replacement with a St. Jude Medical mechanical prosthesis for valve thrombosis 10 years later. Serial echocardiography had always shown ...

Double orifice mitral valve (DOMV) is an uncommon congenital heart defect. The isolated occurrence of this anomaly is very rare and, more often, is associated with another congenital malformation, dominated by atrioventricular canal defects (AVCD). Mitral insufficiency and/or stenosis may complicate this malformation. Treatment may be summarized as abstention, surgical valve repair, or valve re...

In cases of old myocardial infarction, the presence of mitral valve regurgitation is one of the predicting factors of long-term prognosis. The mechanism of ischemic mitral regurgitation consists of mitral annular dilatation, left ventricular (LV) dilatation followed by tethering of the mitral valve, etc. Since long-term prognosis of the patients in whom the degree of mitral valve regurgitation ...

Mitral regurgitation is the most prevalent valvular heart disease worldwide. Despite the widespread availability of curative surgical intervention, a considerable proportion of patients with severe mitral regurgitation are not referred for treatment, largely due to the presence of left ventricular dysfunction, advanced age, and comorbid illnesses. Transcatheter mitral valve replacement is a pro...

Few reports have described long-term outcomes after translocated mitral valve replacement. We describe tips, potential pitfalls, and long-term outcome associated with the construction of a new mitral annulus and reinforcement of prosthesis attachment using a mitral prosthetic valve with an equine pericardial collar in a woman with extensive mitral valve calcification.

Paravalvular leakage (PVL) is uncommon but potentially serious complication after valve replacement, which occurs 7% to 17% after mitral valve replacement (MVR) and 2% to 10% after aortic valve replacement. Although most PVLs are asymptomatic and have a benign clinical course, an estimated 1% to 5% of patients with PVLs show serious clinical consequences, with especially more undesirable outcom...