BACKGROUND AND AIMS The introduction of Duke's criteria and the improvement of imaging methods has lead to an earlier and a more accurate diagnosis of infectious endocarditis (IE). The options for the best therapeutic approach and the timing of surgery are still a matter of debate and require a close colaboration between the cardiologist, the infectionist and the cardiac surgeon. METHODS We u...

BACKGROUND Few published studies address the survival of kidney transplantation patients after valve surgery, and none address relative outcomes related to tissue versus nontissue prosthesis. This study aimed to assess survival of US kidney transplantation patients after cardiac valve replacement and to compare associations of valve selection. METHODS AND RESULTS Of 1 698 706 patients in the ...

Background EuroSCORE has been proposed to identify patients at high risk for surgical aortic valve replacement and estimate for them the risk-benefit of percutaneous implantation. However, it has been clearly demonstrated that this system overestimates mortality, particularly in the elderly population undergoing surgery for aortic valve replacement. An actualized model called EuroSCORE II has b...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of coronary artery disease in patients undergoing valve surgery at a tertiary care cardiac centre. METHODS The medical records of 144 consecutive patients who underwent mitral, aortic or dual (mitral and aortic) valve replacement surgery at the Tabba Heart Institue between January 2006 to December 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent...

Although the use of mitral valve surgery has been successful at alleviating mitral valve disease, published studies on either replacement or repair have yielded mixed clinical outcomes regarding differences between repair and replacement. Meta-analysis of various outcomes from 29 published studies was conducted. Studies were separated into four groups by etiology of disease: ischemic; degenerat...

We report a case of early bioprosthetic valve calcification in a 76 year-old woman who had received supplementation with alfacalcidol, an analogue of vitamin D, for 3 years after her initial valve replacement. She underwent aortic valve replacement at the age of 71 and subsequently complained of shortness of breath. Ultrasonic cardiography revealed severe aortic stenosis and we performed a seco...

Introduction: Mitral valve replacement with chordal preservation requires technical skill, long cross clamp time and prolonged ischemic time of myocardium. Materials and Methods: All patients undergoing mitral valve replacement in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Government Rajaji Hospital during December 2009 to December 2011 were included in the study. Results: All the observations a...

The favorable outcomes achieved with modern mitral valve repair techniques redefined the role of mitral valve replacement. Various international databases report a significant decrease in replacement procedures performed compared with repairs, and contemporary guidelines limit the application of surgical mitral valve replacement to pathology in which durable repair is unlikely to be achieved. T...

A 73-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital for a scheduled percutaneous transcatheter balloon valvuloplasty of a stenotic tricuspid bioprosthesis. The patient had a history consistent with exertional dyspnea, abdominal distension, and edema of the lower extremities resistant to diuretic treatment over the previous few months. Forty-three years prior, she underwent aortic valve replacement...

OBJECTIVE Evaluate the results of various surgical procedures used for aortic root replacement in children with aortic root aneurysm. METHODS Between 1986 and 2007, 23 children (less than 16 years of age, mean age: 8.1+/-5.1 years) underwent elective aortic root replacement for aortic root aneurysm (with associated aortic insufficiency in 10 patients). All had connective tissue defect syndrom...