In a prospective, randomized, parallel study, two regimens of platelet-suppressant therapy (PST) dipyridamole-aspirin and pentoxifylline-aspirin were compared with standard oral anticoagulation with warfarin in the prevention of prosthetic heart valve thromboembolism. In the entire group of 254 patients followed for 395.6 patient-years, the thromboembolic rate was significantly less in the warf...

Prosthetic valvular dysfunction resulting in clinically significant complications occurred in six patients with Hancock porcine heterografts. In one patient with a prosthetic valve in the aortic position, massive prosthetic thrombosis resulted in sudden death. In two patients who had a mitral prosthesis, thrombosis resulted in congestive heart failure and systemic embolization; in one of the la...

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...

Direct oral anticoagulants emerge as the most innovative and promising drug toward preventing and treating cardiovascular disease, raising great interest among the scientific community. Numerous studies and meta-analysis generated much data clarifying clinicians' doubts; however, uncertainties remain regarding their use in particular groups such as patients with prosthetic valves, in valvular a...

BACKGROUND Since most complications related to the operation of prosthetic heart valves is due to disturbances of flow, its hydrodynamic characterization is a useful aid in the design of new prostheses. Simulations of pulsatile flow in cardiac prostheses began nearly 40 years ago, through the development of different mock human circulatory systems, improving the clinical results interpretation....

Patients This study was a pooled analysis of 2 large retrospective T he American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) recently published their revised guidelines on the selection of prosthetic valves.1 According to their class I recommendation, patient values and preferences must be taken into account, based on full disclosure and understanding of the indications for antic...

BACKGROUND Mechanical prosthetic heart valves have been used for many decades to replace damaged native valves. Guidelines mandate the use of anticoagulant therapy in patients with mechanical prosthetic valves of any type, irrespective of the position in the heart. The rationale for this is to prevent valve thrombosis and thromboembolic complications without increasing the risk of excess bleedi...

To the Editor: The image by Catapano et al1 gives misleading information concerning bubbles in the heart in patients with prosthetic valves. They speculated that “bright particles” seen in the left ventricular cavity are consistent with gas bubbles that occur in scuba divers after hypobaric decompression. We disagree with this speculation, because this phenomenon is well documented in patients ...