Three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography has been conceived as one of the most promising methods for the diagnosis of valvular heart disease, and recently has become an integral clinical tool thanks to the development of high quality real-time transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). In particular, for mitral valve diseases, this new approach has proven to be the most unique, powerful, and convin...

BACKGROUND Pannus formation may disturb the leaflet movement of the prosthetic valve. CASE PRESENTATION A 61-year-old woman presented with exertional dyspnea. She had undergone mitral valve replacement with a bioprosthetic valve 31 years ago, which was replaced with a tilting disc valve 22 years ago. The present laboratory findings revealed hemolytic anemia. Echocardiography showed an increas...

Intraprocedural imaging continues to evolve in parallel with advances in percutaneous mitral valve interventions. This didactic review uses several illustrations and rich intraprocedural videos to further describe and demonstrate the role of the most up-to-date echocardiographic and advanced imaging technologies in the patient selection and intraprocedural guidance of percutaneous mitral valve ...

The most common cardiac cause of massive hemoptysis is mitral stenosis. Mitral regurgitation is rarely complicated by massive hemoptysis. A 48-year-old man with no significant medical history was admitted to our hospital with hemoptysis and production of 500 mL of blood within 24 hours. A pan-systolic murmur was found on chest examination. A chest computed tomography showed airspace consolidati...

The authors report the case of a 53-year-old man, with a long-standing history of mild mitral stenosis, admitted for worsening fatigue. Transthoracic echocardiography (limited by poor image quality) showed mitral annular calcification, leaflets that were difficult to visualize and an estimated mitral valve area of 1.8 cm(2) by the pressure half-time method. However, elevated mean transmitral an...

A 64-year-old Japanese man was referred to our hospital because of palpitation. An electrocardiogram revealed firstdegree atrioventricular block without ST-T change. An echocardiography showed structural abnormality into the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT), mitral valve leaflet cleft without mitral regurgitation, and single papillary muscle (loss of posterior papillary muscle) (Figs. 1, 2...

a 32-year-old female patient with previous bentall operation and mitral valve repair surgery due to severe aortic insufficiency, mitral valve insufficiency, and ascending aortic aneurysm was admitted to our hospital with serious dyspnea, fatigue, and mild chest pain. two-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated a markedly dilated basal aorta and cardiac chambers. thoracic computed tomography s...

A 60 year-old woman with rheumatic mitral stenosis underwent re-replacement of Cross- Jones caged lens mitral valve prosthesis, 36 years after valve implantation. In 1968, she underwent mitral commissurotomy. In 1992, she had a stroke, and in July 2009 echocardiography revealed the malfunction of the prosthesis with pannus and reduced mitral prosthetic area < 1.0 cm(2) with the elevated transpr...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to assess the use of real-time (RT) 3-dimensional (3D) transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in the evaluation of post-operative mitral valve dehiscence. BACKGROUND Mitral valve replacement or repair may be complicated by post-operative dehiscence of the valve or annuloplasty ring resulting in clinically significant mitral regurgitation or hemol...

The diagnosis of aortic ring abscess by cross-sectional echocardiography has not been reported. In this paper, a case of bacterial endocarditis of the aortic valve extending to the aortic ring and the mitral valve is reported. The role of cross-sectional echocardiography in defining the anatomic distortion of the aortic valve in bacterial endocarditis and its complications is emphasized. This s...