BACKGROUND We evaluated all adult St. Jude mechanical valve recipients at our institution since the initial implant in January 1979 and now present our 25-year experience. METHODS Nine hundred forty-five valve recipients were followed prospectively at 12-month intervals from January 1979 to December 2007. RESULTS Operative mortality was 3% in the aortic valve recipients and 5% in the mitral...

Objective: To design a new trileaflet aortic valve and investigate its mechanical behavior using finite element methods. Background: Quantification of aortic valve deformation during cardiac cycle is essential in understanding normal and pathological valvular function and eventually in the design of valves. We have designed and analyzed a new tissue valve model to investigate the mechanics of t...

PURPOSE Some investigators suggest that hemodynamic outcomes may be superior with the stentless aortic bioprosthesis when compared with a mechanical valve. The goal of this study was to characterize outcomes and hemodynamic data associated with each type of valve. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Patient outcomes and echocardiographic data were compared between 25 patients with stentless valves and 59 pa...

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...

INTRODUCTION The cardiac bioprostheses are related to thromboembolic events, infectious and degenerative diseases. Wear is mainly attributed to the denaturation of collagen. Glutaraldehyde, the predominant method of preservation of bioprostheses, favors the calcification process and limits their durability. Several techniques try to contain the degenerative process of bioprostheses. OBJECTIVE...

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is widely accepted as the seventh most common chronic debilitating disease and has a huge impact on human health all over the world. In the United States, 10% to 35% of adults are affected by CVI [1]. Venous valve incompetence is a major cause of this disease. When the venous valves become incompetent, blood reflux can occur, which results in blood pooling in ...

Many patients with severe aortic stenosis never undergo surgical treatment for various reasons. Apart from the standard risks, some patients face an additional problem: their carrying of a mechanical mitral valve. In these patients, transcatheter aortic valve implantation is a therapeutic option. The literature contains only few reports of this procedure being performed (usually transapically) ...

Method The medical records of 42 patients (20 male, 47.6 %) who underwent 59 mechanical valve replacements between March 1992 and February 2014 were reviewed, retrospectively. Median age of the patients was 11.0 years (range, 9.1 months to 17.6 years) and 15 patients (25.4%) were less than 5 years. Congenital valve disease was the most common diagnosis (n = 16, 27.6%). Mitral valve replacement ...

Mechanical prosthesis is the first choice for valve replacement at the mitral position in children. Replacement of the original prosthesis because of prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) is almost inevitable when prostheses are implanted in small children. The impact of PPM on long-term mortality becomes significant when the effective orifice area (EOA) is severely reduced. In these cases prosthes...