A 73-year old woman who had previous mechanical mitral valve replacement (MVR) presented with worsening symptoms of dyspnea. Echocardiographic evaluation revealed severe aortic stenosis with calcified trileaflet aortic valve (aortic valve area was 0.9 cm2, mean gradient was 42 mm Hg with 45% ejection fraction). Society of Thoracic Surgeons score of the patient was 8.9%, mean logistic European s...

Aortic valve replacement (AVR) improves survival in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). Following recent advances in Doppler echocardiography, detailed evaluation of results after AVR is now based not only on the degree of alleviation of symptoms but also the degree of functioning of the prosthetic valve and the heart after surgery. Selection of a prosthetic valve is now viewed as an imp...

Nine patients with severe mitral disease were studied before and six months after mitral valve replacement with a three-cusp stented prosthesis using fresh autologous fascia lata tissue. Only patients in whom there was no auscultatory and angiographic evidence of incompetence of the replaced valve were selected for restudy. All patients claimed a marked improvement in their exercise capacity af...

In this article, we present the case of a patient with heart failure with biological aortic valve prosthesis and multiple vascular changes consistent with Takayasu arteritis (TA) who was seen in our department receiving corticosteroids and secondary prevention of rheumatic fever (RF); it was not possible to exclude the association between both diseases.

l p he treatment of aortic valve disease is undergoing rapid hanges. In addition to conventional valve replacement that as evolved as the gold standard over several decades, ranscatheter techniques have been introduced into clinical ractice. Whereas the conventional approach offers very recise and safe suturing of standard valves with low failure ates and excellent proven long-term outcomes, tr...

Nine patients with severe mitral disease were studied before and six months after mitral valve replacement with a three-cusp stented prosthesis using fresh autologous fascia lata tissue. Only patients in whom there was no auscultatory and angiographic evidence of incompetence of the replaced valve were selected for restudy. All patients claimed a marked improvement in their exercise capacity af...

BACKGROUND The study was designed to evaluate the effects of moderate prosthesis-patient mismatch (defined as 0.65 cm(2)/m(2) <indexed effective orifice area ≤ 0.85 cm(2)/m(2)) on midterm outcomes after isolated aortic valve replacement with a 17-mm St. Jude Medical Regent valve in a large series of patients, and to determine if these effects are influenced by patient confounding variables. M...

Background: Heart valve disease gradually increases the pressure in the heart chambers and impairs heart pumping. It influences on quality of life due to low output, disability, fear, amnesia, anxiety, and depression. Although most of signs and symptoms in patients with heart valve diseases may significantly decrease after valve replacement surgery, there is limited information about the impact...

BACKGROUND Percutaneous aortic valve replacement is a new emerging technology for interventional treatment of severe aortic valve stenosis in surgical high-risk patients. This study was intended to provide a summary of the development and current safety and efficacy status of the self-expanding CoreValve Revalving prosthesis. METHOD AND RESULTS Between 2005 and 2008, we have enrolled 136 cons...

P rosthetic valve obstruction is a condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality. 1 The most common causes of obstruction include valve thrombosis or pannus formation. Thrombosis is more likely to occur early after valve implantation, in the setting of inadequate anticoagulation, and is more common in mechanical prostheses. 2,3 However, it can occur with bioprostheses and may de...