INTRODUCTION Prosthetic valve thrombosis is a rare but life-threatening condition that requires careful evaluation and prompt treatment. While surgical intervention remains the gold standard, thrombolytic therapy is now emerging as a potential substitute. Various thrombolytic treatments including streptokinase, urokinase and recombinant tissue plasminogen activators have been reported with vari...

OBJECTIVES To assess the clinical features, pathologic findings, postoperative results and the effects of immunosuppressive therapy in patients with Behçet's disease (BD). METHODS We reviewed the postoperative course of the 9 BD patients who underwent a total of 17 aortic valve replacement procedures with prosthetic valves. RESULTS Histological examination of the aortic valve commonly revea...

background: the evaluation of prosthetic valves is very difficult with two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography alone. doppler and color flow imaging as well as transesophageal echocardiography are more reliable to detect prosthetic valve dysfunction. however, doppler study sometimes tends to be misleading due to the load-depending characteristics of peak and mean pressure gradients. the ...

We report the first case of native and recurrent prosthetic valve endocarditis with Corynebacterium CDC group G, a rarely reported cause of infective endocarditis (IE). Previously, there have been only two cases reported for prosthetic valve IE caused by these organisms. A 69-year-old female with a known history of mitral valve regurgitation presented with a 3-day history of high-grade fever, p...

The evaluation of prosthetic valves can provide a unique challenge, and a thoughtful approach is required. High output states like anemia should be kept in the differential when evaluating elevated gradients across prosthetic valves. We present the case of a 69-year-old man with a Starr-Edwards prosthetic aortic valve who presented with symptoms of congestive heart failure and high transvalvula...

insufficiency aims at relief of symptoms, minimisation of complications and improvement of survival. The development of prosthetic mitral rings and the establishment of reconstruction methods have led to wide application of these techniques. The ideal prosthetic valve has not yet been invented: late complications of both prosthetic mechanical valves (bleeding, thromboembolic events) and tissue ...

one of the most serious complications of mitral valve replacement is left ventricular rupture and pseudoaneurysm formation, which is rare but potentially lethal. we herein present a late type of post mitral valve replacement and coronary artery bypass surgery pseudoaneurysm in a 74-year-old female, who was admitted to our hospital with a recent history of exertional dyspnea. she had the above-m...

Prosthetic valve endocarditis occurs in 2-4% of patients with prosthetic valves and carries a mortality of around 50%. A low index of suspicion should enable early diagnosis. The empirical use of antibiotics in patients with a prosthetic valve who develop an unexplained fever is inappropriate. Careful liaison between cardiologist, microbiologist and cardiac surgeon is essential for optimal mana...

Prosthetic valve thrombosis is one of the major causes of primary valve failure, which can be life-threatening. Multimodality imaging is necessary for determination of leaflet immobilization, cause of underlying pathology (thrombus versus pannus or both), and whether thrombolytic therapy attempt in the patient would be successful or surgery is needed. Current guidelines for the management of pr...

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