BACKGROUND Valvular heart disease has been a significant cause of heart disease worldwide. In Ethiopia, it particularly affects young individuals and constitutes the major cause of cardiovascular disease. Factors associated with choice of treatment for advanced valvular heart disease are variable. The objective of this study is to review surgery done for Ethiopian patients with valvular heart d...

Whether antithrombotic therapy in elderly patients differs from that in younger populations depends on whether the risk for such bleeding differs in the elderly. Regarding long-term therapy with warfarin derivatives, evidence shows that there is a difference. The anticoagulation response to warfarin is exaggerated with advancing age. This article discusses antithrombotic therapies for valvular ...

Heart valve replacement is fast becoming a routine surgery worldwide, and heart valve prostheses are today considered among the most widely used cardiovascular devices. Mechanical and bioprostheses have been the traditional choices to the replacement surgeries. However, such valves continue to expose patients to risks including thrombosis, infection and limited valve durability. In recent years...

OBJECTIVE Recent data indicate that oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) has several proatherogenic effects, e.g. induction of macrophage chemoattractants, adhesion molecules, cytokines, type-1 plasminogen activator inhibitor and platelet-derived growth factor A-chain by smooth muscle cells. Therefore, ox-LDL has been utilized as a marker of oxidative modification of proteins in atheroscle...

Rheumatic involvement of all four heart valves is rare. A 35 year old woman presented with gradually progressive exertional dyspnoea for the preceding 10 years. On evaluation she was in atrial fibrillation with congestive heart failure. Clinical examination found evidence of stenosis of the mitral aortic and tricuspid valves with a history of rheumatic fever in childhood. Transthoracic echocard...

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...

The heart of Bathynomus doederleini gives rise to an anterior median artery (AMA), one pair of anterior lateral arteries (ALAs) and five pairs of lateral arteries (LAs). Cardioarterial valves are located at the junctions between the heart and arteries, each composed of a pair of muscular flaps. All valves of the AMA and the ALAs receive valve excitatory (constrictor) nerves (VEs). The valves of...

BACKGROUND Patients with prosthetic heart valves are a challenge to any anesthesiologist due to the risk of infective endocarditis, bleeding and thrombosis. CASE PRESENTATION We present anesthetic management of a 58-year-old Indian lady with a prosthetic (mechanical) heart valve who underwent hemireplacement arthroplasty. CONCLUSION Patients with prosthetic heart valves, especially those wi...

Each heart valve is composed of different structures of which each one has its own histological profile. Although the aortic and the pulmonary valves as well as the mitral and the tricuspid valves show similarities in their architecture, they are individually designed to ensure optimal function with regard to their role in the cardiac cycle. In this article, we systematically describe the struc...