Prosthetic valves have revolutionized the way we treat patients with valvular disease. Before the advent of these valves patient’s options were limited and morbidity and mortality high. In the early 1960’s valve replacement surgery was introduced which dramatically changed the management of these patients. Prosthetic valve technology continues to evolve and surgeons have multiple options to off...

We studied the value of two-dimensional Doppler echocardiographic color flow mapping for identifying normal transvalve flow profiles and valve malfunction in 20 patients with Björk-Shiley prosthetic valves. Seven patients had Björk-Shiley prosthetic valves in the aortic position alone, seven in the mitral position, and six had prosthetic valves in both the aortic and mitral positions. In 10 pat...

OBJECTIVES Proper valve selection is critical to ensure appropriate valve replacement for patients, because implantation of a small valve might place the patient at risk for persistent gradients. Labeled valve size is not the same as millimeter measure of prosthetic valve diameters or the annulus into which it will fit. Studies that use the labeled valve size in lieu of actual measured diameter...

In this review, the anatomy and structure of the aortic valve and its prostheses are comprehensively discussed. Cardiac anatomy and function, human heart valves and their prostheses are also extensively discussed. The current status of prosthetic heart valves along with the next generation of these devices is broadly deliberated. Ather promising options such astranscatheter technologies (percut...

SUMMARY Forty-nine patients whose clinical symptoms suggested a leaking cardiac prosthetic valve were studied by both cineradiography and angiocardiography. We found a wider range of tilting motion of the nonleaking mitral valve than has been previously shown. An angle of tilt greater than 60 for the prosthetic aortic valve strongly suggests separation of the prosthesis from its bed with a para...

Valve replacement remains common in the adult patient despite advances in valve repair. While a physical examination can alert the clinician to the presence of valve dysfunction, diagnostic methods are often needed to assess the function of the prosthesis. Echocardiography with Doppler is currently the method of choice for non-invasive evaluation of prosthetic valves. A recently published "Guid...

Patients with mechanical valve prostheses require a lifelong anticoagulant treatment. The combined use of Warfarin and low-dose aspirin appears to reduce the risk of valve thrombosis and systemic embolism at a low risk of bleeding. The management of women with prosthetic heart valves during pregnancy poses a particular challenge, as there are no available controlled clinical trials to provide g...

Approximately 85,000 valve substitutes are implanted in the United States and 275,000 worldwide each year, of which approximately half are mechanical valves and half are bioprosthetic valves. Despite the marked improvements in prosthetic valve design and surgical procedures over the past decades, valve replacement is not a panacea for the patient. Instead, native valve disease is traded for pro...

BACKGROUND Patients with prosthetic heart valves are a challenge to any anesthesiologist due to the risk of infective endocarditis, bleeding and thrombosis. CASE PRESENTATION We present anesthetic management of a 58-year-old Indian lady with a prosthetic (mechanical) heart valve who underwent hemireplacement arthroplasty. CONCLUSION Patients with prosthetic heart valves, especially those wi...

This paper describes "how to" examine cardiac valves with computed tomography, the normal, diseased valves, and prosthetic valves. A review of current scientific literature is provided. Firstly, technical basics, "how to" perform and optimize a multislice CT scan and "how to" interpret valves on CT images are outlined. Then, diagnostic imaging of the entire spectrum of specific valvular disease...