Transoesophageal echocardiography has greatly improved our ability to detect structural and regurgitant abnormalities associated with prosthetic mitral valves.

The classic case of aortic stenosis is a healthy middle-aged patient with/without symptoms, but in practical life, patients with severe calcific aortic valve come with several and severe comorbidities such as advanced age, coronary artery disease, atherosclerotic aorta, significant left ventricular dysfunction. Aortic valve replacement (AVR) is the only options in these patients, and it require...

To facilitate the radiographic identification of prosthetic heart valves, radiographic silhouettes of various aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve prostheses were analyzed and shematized. Forty different prosthetic valve models (heterograft and mechanical) were obtained from seven domestic manufacturers. Each prosthesis was positioned to approximate the aortic, mitral or tricuspid valve anulus pl...

Direct oral anticoagulants emerge as the most innovative and promising drug toward preventing and treating cardiovascular disease, raising great interest among the scientific community. Numerous studies and meta-analysis generated much data clarifying clinicians' doubts; however, uncertainties remain regarding their use in particular groups such as patients with prosthetic valves, in valvular a...

In recent years mitral valve repair has gained increasing acceptance as the preferred treatment for mitral insufficiency. Mitral valve repair has many advantages. The surgical risk is lower than prosthetic valve replacement. Improved preservation of left ventricular function due to maintenance of the papillary muscle - mitral annular continuity - has been demonstrated. Thromboembolism is rare a...

Bacterial endocarditis is the infection of inner lining of heart and /or heart valves. This disease is usually related to the presence of some pathogenic bacteria in mouth, digestive system or urinary tract. Most of the times, this infection happens in people with heart problems like the presence of prosthetic valves, history of previous endocarditis, some congenital heart defects and heart tra...

Sound spectroanalysis was carried out for diagnosis of malfunctioning prosthetic heart valves in 50 cases, which consisted of 31 mitral, 14 aortic, 4 mitral+aortic and 1 tricuspid valve replacements with the age ranging from 17 to 57 years. Types of prosthetic valves used in this series were Starr-Edwards silicon ball valves, metal ball valves, disc valves, Kay-Shiley valves, Smeloff-Cutter val...

Current research shows that some of the pathogenetic processes behind structural destruction bioprosthetic valves are largely similar to those involved in development atherosclerotic vascular lesions and native valve calcification. These include lipid leukocyte infiltration, typical for both prosthetic tissues. They accompanied by formation foam cells, excessive production matrix-degrading enzy...

Studies correlating prosthetic valve gradients determined by continuous wave Doppler echocardiography with gradients obtained by cardiac catheterization have, to date, been limited to patients with mitral and tricuspid prostheses or have compared nonsimultaneous measurements. Simultaneous Doppler and catheter pressure gradients in 36 patients (mean age, 63 +/- 13 years) with 42 prosthetic valve...