OBJECTIVES The aim of this paper is to describe the feasibility of a novel transcatheter approach for mitral valve replacement using only venous access. BACKGROUND Failure of mitral valve prostheses necessitating reoperation can represent a high-risk clinical scenario. Although repeat cardiac surgery remains the standard of care for most failed mitral valve operations, nascent transcatheter o...

A 61 year old man presented with mitral regurgitation and glomerulonephritis caused by suspected infective endocarditis. His glomerulonephritis remitted on immunosuppression but mitral valve replacement with a Carpentier-Edwards porcine xenograft later proved necessary. The patient became dialysis dependent and cadaveric renal allografting was complicated by delayed graft function and refractor...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate echocardiography accuracy in performing and obtaining images for dynamical three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction. METHODS Three-dimensional (3D) image reconstruction was obtained in 20 consecutive patients who underwent transesophageal echocardiography. A multiplanar 5 MHz transducer was used for 3D reconstruction. RESULTS Twenty patients were studied consecutively. Th...

The assessment of prosthetic valve function remains challenging. Echocardiography has become the key diagnostic tool not only because of its noninvasive nature and wide availability but also because of limitations inherent in alternative diagnostic techniques. Invasive evaluation is limited particularly in mechanical valves that cannot be crossed with a catheter, and in patients with both aorti...

INTRODUCTION Patients with mechanical heart valve prostheses must continuously be treated with oral anticoagulants to prevent thromboembolic events related to prosthetesis. These patients should be continually evaluated for the control of oral anticoagulation. OBJECTIVE To compare the occurrence of thromboembolic and hemorragic complications in patients with mechanical heart valve prosthesis ...

BACKGROUND The CarboMedics valve is a relatively new, low-profile, bileaflet, mechanical prosthesis. The results of a prospective follow-up study after valve replacement with this prosthesis in a university hospital are presented. METHODS We implanted 640 CarboMedics prostheses in 583 patients in the aortic (n = 359), mitral (n = 167), or aortic and mitral positions (double valve replacement;...