BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY In-vitro studies on the ATS heart valve have indicated that valve opening is less in an expanding conduit than in a straight conduit. METHODS Bileaflet valve behavior was studied using a new computational fluid-structure interaction model. A three-dimensional model of the ATS valve was studied in two geometries, simulating the valve in a geometry with sudden ex...

A 10-year-old girl with trisomy 21 and complex congenital heart disease presented with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Her chemotherapy required modifications due to poor baseline cardiac status and a mechanical prosthetic heart valve that was dependent on anticoagulation. We describe our management including the use of low-molecular-weight heparin as anticoagulation for a mechanical heart valve,...

OBJECTIVE Cardiac surgical mortality has improved during the last decade despite the aging of the population. An integrated US health plan developed a heart valve registry to track outcomes and complications of heart valve operations. This database was used for longitudinal evaluation of mitral valve (MV) outcomes from 1999 to 2008 at four affiliated hospitals. METHODS We identified 3130 pati...

As a dreadful complication after the mechanical heart valve replacement, prosthetic valve obstruction caused by pannus formation occurs increasingly with time. The authors here present a case of 42-year-old woman who was urgently admitted to hospital with acute heart failure symptoms due to the mechanical mitral valve failure only 3 months after surgery. Transthoracic and transesophageal echoca...

BACKGROUND The West African sub-region has poor health infrastructure. Mechanical valve replacement in children from such regions raises important postoperative concerns; among these, valve-related morbidity and complications of lifelong anticoagulation are foremost. Little is known about the long-term outcome of mechanical valve replacement in West Africa. We sought to determine the outcome of...

Durability has always been a crucial performance indicator for artificial heart valves. There is the intrinsic durability of the valve itself, as constructed by the manufacturer, but it is the durability of the implanted valve in the individual patient which is the real issue, particularly, but not solely, for the patient. Progress in the design and manufacture of artificial heart valves has ar...

Heart valve replacement represents the most common surgical therapy for end-stage valvular heart diseases. A major drawback all contemporary heart valve replacements have in common is the lack of growth, repair, and remodeling capabilities. To overcome these limitations, the emerging field of tissue engineering is focusing on the in vitro generation of functional, living heart valve replacement...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the success rates and prognosis of heart valvuloplasty and valve replacement for elderly patients, and to provide clinical evidence. METHODS A total of 1240 patients who received heart valve surgeries in our hospital from June 2004 to October 2014 were selected and retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into two groups based on age (60), and those older than 60 (Grou...

conclusions high risk patients needing avr are optimal candidates for transcatheter aortic valve implantation. tavi is a valuable solution for high risk patients needing avr. obtained results are comparable to results in transthoracic avr in standard candidates for aortic valve implantation. background transcatheter aortic valve implantation (tavi) has emerged as an alternative treatment to cla...

OBJECTIVES To describe the early and late outcomes of carcinoid patients undergoing surgical heart valve replacement. METHODS In a retrospective study, records of patients with symptomatic carcinoid heart disease referred for valve surgery between 1993 and 2010 at two academic centres were reviewed. The perioperative and postoperative outcomes were analysed. RESULTS Nineteen patients, with ...