Fusion of prosthetic valve during left heart bypass

Prosthetic heart valve.

A 55-year-old invasive/clinical cardiologist worked full time, exercised regularly, and was asymptomatic. Two weeks previously, he had new onset of angina on exertion. Echocardiography/Doppler and cardiac catheterization confirmed the clinical assessment of severe aortic stenosis with a valve area of 0.5 cm/m. The aortic valve was tricuspid; left ventricular ejection fraction was 0.60. Coronary...

Treatment of obstructive thrombosed prosthetic heart valve.

Obstructive thrombosed prosthetic heart valve (OTPHV) is a serious complication of heart valve replacement. There are no generally accepted criteria for management of these patients. Therefore, in September 2012, a literature survey of studies published after 1995 was performed to analyze the data regarding clinical outcomes of patients with OTPHV treated with thrombolytic agents and with surge...

Prosthetic valve endocarditis: state of the heart

Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is a rare but serious complication of cardiac valve replacement surgery and is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis and management of this disease process, the rates of undesirable outcomes, including mortality directly attributable to infection, remain unacceptably high. ...

Fatigue Evaluation of a Prosthetic Heart Valve

Approximately 86,000 Björk-Shiley convexo-concave (BSCC) heart valves were implanted from 1979 to 1984 and approximately 1% of these valves experienced failure due to fatigue of a critical valve component. Failures of this type are likely to yield a 70% mortality rate in patients. Although the BSCC valve was constructed from a material that possesses good fatigue properties continued operation ...

Pregnancy through a prosthetic heart valve.