Retroperitoneal fibrosis is best described as a chronic inflammatory process which may be idiopathic, but can rarely be brought about by medications, such as pergolide, used for treating Parkinson's disease. Pergolide can produce a fibrotic process in heart valves, resulting in valve insufficiency in up to 25% of cases. Herein we describe the case of a 68-year-old man who received pergolide for...

• When aortic and mitral valvular insufficiency are present in the same patient, indicator injected into the aortic root regurgitates into the left ventricle and thence into the left atrium. The purpose of this paper is to describe the indicator distribution in such patients and to compare the relationships found with those predicted from a theoretical model of bivalvular insufficiency. Indicat...

In a patient with endocarditis and significant aortic insufficiency, two-dimensional echocardiography revealed an abnormal mitral valve configuration with division of the valve into two separate orifices. At autopsy, a double orifice mitral valve with two sets of valve leaflets was observed. Appreciation of this echocardiographic abnormality is important because double orifice mitral valve is a...

Background—This single center study assesses the outcome of aortic valve sparing reimplantation (AVS) in 284 consecutive patients who were operated on for various indications during the last 11 years. Methods and Results—From July, 1993, to July, 2004, 284 patients underwent AVS. Mean age was 53 16 (range 8 to 84) years. Of the 284 patients, 184 were male (64.8%) and 54 (19%) experienced Marfan...

BACKGROUND This single center study assesses the outcome of aortic valve sparing reimplantation (AVS) in 284 consecutive patients who were operated on for various indications during the last 11 years. METHODS AND RESULTS From July, 1993, to July, 2004, 284 patients underwent AVS. Mean age was 53+/-16 (range 8 to 84) years. Of the 284 patients, 184 were male (64.8%) and 54 (19%) experienced Ma...

We present an unusual case of acute type A dissection complicated with severe aortic valve insufficiency caused by prolapse of the tubular intimal flap into the left ventricular outflow tract, which was shown legibly by transesophageal echocardiography in the diastolic phase and by intraoperative macroscopic findings. The dissected ascending aorta was excised completely and replaced without any...

background: the evaluation of prosthetic valves is very difficult with two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography alone. doppler and color flow imaging as well as transesophageal echocardiography are more reliable to detect prosthetic valve dysfunction. however, doppler study sometimes tends to be misleading due to the load-depending characteristics of peak and mean pressure gradients. the ...

This is a report about a case of prenatal diagnosis of critical fetal aortic stenosis with severe mitral valve insufficiency in a 35+6 weeks fetus. Aortic stenosis represents 3% of congenital heart diseases, but its association with mitral regurgitation is quite unusual. Thanks to the latest advances in fetal ultrasonography we can now achieve a more precise diagnosis and we have been able to i...

IN 21 INFANTS, each with symptomatic congenital aortic stenosis and left ventricular cavity of nearly normal size studied clinically,' evidence for mitral insuffiiegncy was frequently encountered. In five of the patients left ventriculography was done and, in each, mitral insufficiency was demonstrated. This background of experience led us to study, in particular, the mitral valve in specimens ...