BACKGROUND Haemodynamic performance of heart valve prosthesis can be defined as its ability to fully open and completely close during the cardiac cycle, neither overloading heart work nor damaging blood particles when passing through the valve. In this perspective, global and local flow parameters, valve dynamics and blood damage safety of the prosthesis, as well as their mutual interactions, h...

In order to investigate relations between mitral valve closure and mechanical events at the onset of left ventricular systole, simultaneous M mode echocardiograms and phonocardiograms were recorded with the apexcardiogram and its first differential (dA/dt) in 25 normal subjects and 88 patients with heart disease. The timing of mitral and aortic valve closure and the onset and peak rate of rise ...

BACKGROUND Cardiac disease in pregnancy is a common problem in under-resourced countries and a significant cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. A large proportion of patients with cardiac disease have prosthetic mechanical heart valve replacements, warranting prophylactic anticoagulation. AIM To evaluate obstetric outcomes in women with prosthetic heart valves in an under-resourced coun...

a total of 14 cases of infective endocarditis (ie) in children aged 6 months to 10 years were seen from december 1987 to december 1992 at the pediatric unit of ayatollah taleghani medical center. the majority of patients (12 of 14) were between 5 and 10 years of age. acyanotic congenital heart disease was known to preexist in 78.6% and rheumatic valvular heart disease in 21.4% of cases. organis...

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has shown favorable outcomes in patients with severe symptomatic aortic valve stenosis who are at high surgical risk or are unsuitable candidates for open heart surgery. However, concerns exist over treating patients who have previously undergone mitral valve surgery due to the potential interference between the mitral prosthetic valve or ring and ...

A 62-year-old woman presented with a sudden transient ischemic attack (TIA). Symptoms resolved within 2 hours of onset. Neurological evaluation and workout for etiology of the TIA was unremarkable. Her medical history included having a St. Jude mitral valve replacement for mitral regurgitation 10 years before presentation. The patient had been maintained on warfarin with INR levels generally in...

Objectives: There has been frequent report on transcranially detected microembolic signals (HITS) following cardiac surgery using extracorporeal bypass support. The clinical relevance of HITS, however, has yet to be clarified. The incidence of thromboembolic events is increased following mechanical heart valve replacement. The purpose of this study was to quantify postoperative HITS after impla...

year: the lowest in the youngest age group and the highest in the oldest. Intracranial haemorrhage was seen at an unacceptable rate (0.6–0.7/year) in all age groups. Therefore, the authors conclude that the use of mechanical AVR below the age of 60 years is associated with a similar rate of intracranial bleeding as seen in older patients. This report shows the deleterious effect of over-anticoa...

Tissue engineered heart valves are a promising alternative for current heart valve replacements. However, the mechanical properties of these valves are insufficient for implantation at the aortic position [1]. Collagen orientation is important to improve the mechanical properties of tissue engineered valves. Two-photon laser-scanning microscopy allows us to study the influence of strain on coll...