OBJECTIVE To determine the doppler derived mean gradients of St Jude mechanical prosthesis in early postoperative period in patients undergoing valve replacement at a tertiary care cardiac centre. METHODS Medical records of 190 consecutive patients who underwent 233 mitral, aortic or dual (mitral and aortic) valve replacement by St Jude bileaflet mechanical prosthesis at Tabba Heart Institute...

The surgical replacement of diseased heart valves is based on the premise that the prosthesis chosen to replace a stenotic or insufficient valve will have a beneficial impact on the patient’s heart function, taking into account the risks of surgery and the recognized complications of prosthetic heart valves. It is well established that mitral valve replacement (MVR) is associated with higher sh...

Artificial valve replacement is a common procedure in case of heart valve disorders treatment. The main task of this prosthesis is to generate blood flow similar to flow generated by natural, human valve. Velocity distribution depends mainly on the geometry of the valve. That is why it should be analysed and modified in case to obtain the best results. The objective of this study was to numeric...

OBJECTIVES Sinuses of Valsalva are important in assuring the physiological function of the aortic valve. This study evaluates short-term clinical results of the reimplantation technique for aortic valve-sparing root replacement using a new prosthesis with three separate sinuses of Valsalva (sinus prosthesis). METHODS Between February 2009 and February 2011, a total of 23 patients (20 m/3 f; m...

Valve prostheses have played an important part in the past two decades in the management of patients with valvular heart disease. However, many of the devices used in valve replacement have introduced new clinical problems. This paper deals with some of the problems associated with valve replacement, including one not previously emphasized--valve prosthesis-patient mismatch, which may cause obs...

ccurate diagnosis of prosthetic heart valve infection has major implications on patient management and outcome. If the presence of prosthetic or periprosthetic valve endocarditis is misclassified, it can lead to delayed antibiotic or surgical intervention, which may adversely affect patient outcomes, and that is not inconsequential. Prosthetic valve endocarditis constitutes up to 30% of all cas...

The aortic valve operates in a complex haemodynamic environment, opening and closing over 100,000 times a day. When complications arise, such as aortic stenosis, prognosis can be very poor, leading to death within the first few years. Surgical valve replacement is currently the standard treatment for aortic stenosis. A thorough understanding of the anatomy and function of the native valve is im...

Bicuspid aortic stenosis (BAS) has been excluded in clinical trials on transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) due to the presumed uneven expansion of the aortic prosthesis, leading to significant paravalvular regurgitation (PVR). There is no transcatheter heart valve (THV) commercially approved for treating BAS. The Lotus Valve System mitigates PVR by possessing an adaptive seal and bein...