Aortic valve replacement is the second most common cardiothoracic procedure in the UK. With an ageing population, there are an increasing number of patients with prosthetic valves that require follow-up. Imaging of prosthetic valves is challenging with conventional echocardiographic techniques making early detection of valve dysfunction or complications difficult. CT has recently emerged as a c...

Primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a thrombophilic disorder not associated with connective tissue diseases or with autoimmune diseases. We report a 39-year-old female with a mechanical prosthetic mitral valve and a primary antiphospholipid syndrome. Anticoagulation with warfarin was changed for tinzaparine. Four days after the change, the patients was admitted in cardiogenic shock. A tr...

Malfunction of a prosthetic aortic valve is associated with a spectrum of potentially life threatening complications. In addition, the risk of aortic dissection increases following aortic valve replacement, which relates principally to aortic root pathology rather than prosthetic type or its functional status (Circulation 100 (1999) II-287). We report a case in which a high velocity turbulent j...

BACKGROUND Diagnosis of prosthetic valve leakage by the transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) technique is more difficult. These limitations are diminished with the use of transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) techniques. CASE REPORT A 71 year old Caucasian male presented with symptoms and signs of congestive heart failure. Past medical history included a bio-prosthetic mitral valve replacement f...

Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) represents an uncommon and very serious complication after heart valve surgery. Prosthetic valve endocarditis occurs in 1% to 6% of patients with valve prostheses and affects both mechanical and biological valves [1]. Up to 34% of all cases of infective endocarditis involve prosthetic heart valves. Prosthetic valve endocarditis represents a nosographic entity...

Prosthetic valve thrombosis is a life-threatening complication that is seen most commonly in patients with left-sided prosthetic valves. However, mechanical tricuspid valves carry the highest risk of thrombosis of any cardiac valve. Thrombolysis has been performed successfully in right-sided prosthetic valve thrombosis and has been recommended as the first-line treatment in these patients. Alth...

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...

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Prosthetic valve thrombosis (DVT) is a very serious complication, with high morbidity and mortality, risk stroke during hospital admission, which occurs especially in patients poorly anticoagulated mechanical prostheses. Therapeutic options available for DVT are surgery, or without prosthetic replacement, intravenous th...