Ultrasonic Decalcification of Calcified Cardiac Valves and Annuli

Ultrasonic decalcification of calcified cardiac valves and annuli.

Heavily calcified annuli increase the incidence of complications after prosthetic valve replacement-heart block, separation of the aorta or the atrium from the ventricle, late aneurysm formation, paravalvular leak, and haemolysis. An ultrasonic calculus-disintegrator has been developed to remove calcific deposits. The instrument is portable, robust, easily sterilized, inexpensive, and provides ...

Tomography of calcified aortic and mitral valves.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the value offluoroscopy and tomography in distinguishing aortic from mitral valve calcification. In view of this difficulty, certain criteria are recorded to aid their identification. Aortic valve calcification was first described in 1672 by Rayger (quoted by Bonetus, 1679). Eighty-two years later, Morgagni recorded a patient dying in cardiac failure who ...

Decalcification of a Heavily Calcified Common Femoral Artery and its Bifurcation with a Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator

INTRODUCTION Surgical endarterectomy is the preferred method for treating occlusive disease of the common femoral artery (CFA). However, endarterectomy is not always straightforward in cases with heavily calcified plaque. To overcome this limitation, a new method for decalcification, which utilizes a Cavitron ultrasonic surgical aspirator (CUSA) has been developed. REPORT The method involves ...

Evidence of nanobacterial-like structures in calcified human arteries and cardiac valves.

Mechanisms mediating vascular calcification remain incompletely understood. Nanometer scale objects hypothesized to be a type of bacteria (nanobacteria) are associated with calcified geological specimens, human kidney stones, and psammona bodies in ovarian cancer. Experiments were designed to evaluate human vascular tissue for the presence of similar nanometer-scale objects. Calcified human ane...

Aortic Valve Replacement for Calcified Aortic Valves