Heart valves are currently under thorough investigation in tissue engineering (TE) research. Mechanical and biological heart valve prostheses which are recently used have several shortcomings. While allogenic and xenogenic biological prostheses are related to graft rejection, degeneration and thrombosis, resulting in a high rate of reoperation. Mechanical prostheses on the other hand are based ...

INTRODUCTION The formation and collapse of vapor-filled bubbles near a mechanical heart valve is called cavitation. Microbubbles can be detected in vivo by doppler ultrasonography (USG) as HITS (high intensity transient signals) in cranial circulation. We investigated the relationship between exercise induced heart rate increase and HITS formation in cranial circulation. MATERIAL AND METHODS ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and immediate and mid-term effects of heart valve prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) after mitral valve replacement using the GK bileaflet mechanical valve. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 493 cases of mechanical mitral valve replacement were performed in the departments of cardiac surgery in 7 hospitals from January 2000 to Jan...

A vibroacoustic signal of an internal combustion engine contains several diagnostic information, which are for the most part not utilised since they require complex processing methods in order to separate useful data and to eliminate disturbances. The way of analysis of such complex signal depends on the diagnostic aim. It is a rich source of information not only concerning the combustion proce...

OBJECTIVE To determine the doppler derived mean gradients of St Jude mechanical prosthesis in early postoperative period in patients undergoing valve replacement at a tertiary care cardiac centre. METHODS Medical records of 190 consecutive patients who underwent 233 mitral, aortic or dual (mitral and aortic) valve replacement by St Jude bileaflet mechanical prosthesis at Tabba Heart Institute...

Paravalvular leak (PVL) after prosthetic valve implantation is a significant complication and it usually occurs early in the postoperative period. We report a case of multiple PVL 17 years after the second mitral valve replacement without evidence of infection. The valve sutures were neither cut nor loosened. None of the sewing cuff of the mitral valve was covered with fibrous tissue. The sewin...

BACKGROUND Species of the genus Acinetobacter are Gram-negative and highly drug-resistant bacilli that normally reside on the skin, oropharynx, and perineum. Several previous studies have reported prosthetic valve endocarditis due to A. baumannii infection. CASE PRESENTATION Here we present a case of late endocarditis of a bioprosthetic tricuspid valve due to A. baumannii complex in a patient...

To facilitate the radiographic identification of prosthetic heart valves, radiographic silhouettes of various aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve prostheses were analyzed and shematized. Forty different prosthetic valve models (heterograft and mechanical) were obtained from seven domestic manufacturers. Each prosthesis was positioned to approximate the aortic, mitral or tricuspid valve anulus pl...

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 ...

This report reviews the results obtained with the current models of the Silastic ball valve, classifying the experience with the mitral and aortic models into the periods (formula: see text) before and after 1973. Valve failure is defined according to the Stanford method and includes any valve-related death or complication necessitating valve removal (there have been no mechanical failures). Co...