Congenital quadricuspid aortic valve is a rare cardiac anomaly. More than half of the patients with this abnormality will develop aortic insufficiency in adulthood. It is vital that patients with quadricuspid aortic valve who present with progressive aortic regurgitation undergo valve replacement or repair at appropriate time. Here, we present two cases of quadricuspid aortic valve. We first de...

The calculation and comparison of relative survival rates after interventional studies is a method that permits correction for important demographic variables, thereby adjusting for the "background mortality" in the general population. Long-term relative survival rates were analyzed in a consecutive series of 2,805 Swedish patients who, on the basis of clinical symptoms, underwent aortic valve ...

Aortic valve rupture, secondary to aortic valve endocarditis, was diagnosed echocardiographically and closely followed preoperatively. The ruptured left coronary cusp of the aortic valve was seen as dense irregular echoes, located anteriorly during ventricular diastole, and protruding into the left ventricular outflow tract in an otherwise normally appearing aortic valve. These echocardiographi...

BACKGROUND Mechanical valves and bioprostheses are widely used for aortic valve replacement. Though previous randomised studies indicate that there is no important difference in outcome after implantation with either type of valve, knowledge of outcomes after aortic valve replacement is incomplete. OBJECTIVE To predict age and sex specific outcomes of patients after aortic valve replacement w...

Transcatheter valve implantation is a novel interventional technique, which was developed as an  alternative therapy for surgical aortic valve replacement in inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis. Despite limited experience in using transcatheter valve implantation for mitral and aortic regurgitation, transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation and valve-in-valve implantation ...

OBJECTIVE Evaluate the results of various surgical procedures used for aortic root replacement in children with aortic root aneurysm. METHODS Between 1986 and 2007, 23 children (less than 16 years of age, mean age: 8.1+/-5.1 years) underwent elective aortic root replacement for aortic root aneurysm (with associated aortic insufficiency in 10 patients). All had connective tissue defect syndrom...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether QT dispersion is a reliable index of the severity of aortic stenosis and left ventricular hypertrophy in the setting of aortic stenosis. DESIGN A retrospective analysis of the results of echocardiography and electrocardiography before and after aortic valve replacement. SETTING Tertiary centre. PATIENTS 36 men (30 white and six black) with symptomatic aort...

OBJECTIVE To assess the midterm follow-up of reduction aortoplasty with external wrapping associated with aortic valve replacement in high risk patients. METHODS Six patients with ascending aortic aneurysm and aortic valve disease were included in this study. Four of them were male. The age ranged from 61 to 70 years (mean 65.7 years). One patient presented severe mitral valve insufficiency. ...

A case of Debakey type-II (Stanford type-A) dissecting aortic aneurysm, after aortic valve replacement and reduction aortoplasty, is reported. The patient was 35 years male who was diagnosed of severe aortic regurgitation along with aortic root dilatation of 7 cm. He underwent aortic valve replacement with 27-ASt Jude's mechanical aortic valve along with reduction aortoplasty. Nine months later...

BACKGROUND Prosthetic valve detachment after aortic valve replacement and pseudoaneurysm formation are the most important postoperative complications in patients with Takayasu arteritis with aortic regurgitation. We reviewed our experience of surgical treatment of aortic regurgitation in patients with Takayasu disease. METHODS Between November 1997 and September 2011, 11 patients (4 women and...