To the Editor: I read with interest the contribution by Cai et al in the “Images in Cardiovascular Medicine” section of the journal.1 They described a patient who developed severe aortic regurgitation and a mitral valve aneurysm 1 month after successful treatment of Streptococcus mitis endocarditis. The case presentation and the title implied that the mitral valve aneurysm was caused by the eff...

Echocardiographic studies of the mitral valve were performed in 57 patients with pure or predominant mitral stenosis who subsequently underwent surgery (30 commissurotomy, 27 valve replacement). Mitral valve calcification was graded heavy (thick, conglomerate echoes), light (multiple, discrete linear echoes) or none (thin, single or duplicate signals). Valve mobility, measured as the excursion ...

The MitraClip system is a device for percutaneous edge-to-edge reconstruction of the mitral valve in patients with severe mitral regurgitation who are deemed at high risk for surgery. Studies have underlined the therapeutic benefit of the MitraClip system for patients at extreme and high risk for mitral valve surgery, suffering from either degenerative or functional mitral regurgitation. The Mi...

Minimally invasive mitral valve repair is based on several procedural concepts. Recently, three of them have been intensively discussed: aortic occlusion strategy, use of Goretex-Neo-Chordae to repair mitral valve regurgitation and feasibility and efficacy of the minithoracotomy approach in mitral valve treatment of patients after previous cardiac surgery. Twenty years of experience in minimall...

One of the most serious complications of mitral valve replacement is left ventricular rupture and pseudoaneurysm formation, which is rare but potentially lethal. We herein present a late type of post mitral valve replacement and coronary artery bypass surgery pseudoaneurysm in a 74-year-old female, who was admitted to our hospital with a recent history of exertional dyspnea. She had the above-m...

Congenital mitral valve stenosis is a rare pathology. In this study, we aimed to present our surgical approach and successful valve repair to a case with congenital mitral valve stenosis combined with left persistent superior vena cava. Conservative surgery of the congenital mitral valve stenosis can be performed with acceptable early and midterm outcome in terms of mortality and reoperation ra...

BACKGROUND Extension of infection below the aortic valve is a serious complication, especially with mitral valve involvement. Mortality is substantial and reinfection can strongly influence outcome. PATIENTS Of 327 surgical patients with active infective aortic valve endocarditis admitted to the Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin for surgical treatment between December 1996 and December 2003, 108 h...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the effectiveness of surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) using bipolar radiofrequency ablation during mitral valve procedures of rheumatic etiology in heart surgery. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed medical registries of 53 patients submitted to atrial ablation with bipolar radiofrequency energy during mitral valve surgery. Thirty four (64%) patients were wo...

THE DEVELOPMENT of mitral and aortic prostheses has allowed surgery for patients with pathology of multiple valves not otherwise correctable.1' 2 Experience with this type of surgery culminated in replacement of the tricuspid, mitral, and aortic valves during one operation in certain patients with severe rheumatic heart disease.3 The present report will describe the hemodynamic findings in eigh...