Many patients with severe aortic stenosis never undergo surgical treatment for various reasons. Apart from the standard risks, some patients face an additional problem: their carrying of a mechanical mitral valve. In these patients, transcatheter aortic valve implantation is a therapeutic option. The literature contains only few reports of this procedure being performed (usually transapically) ...

Aortic valve insuYciency may be caused by abnormalities of the leaflets, the root, or a combination of both. In some patients, the primary pathology is confined to the aortic root itself, the leaflets remaining anatomically normal. These patients have progressive dilatation of the aortic sinuses and, on occasion, dilatation and distortion of the annulus which results in valvar incompetence. Mos...

The main objective of aortic valve replacement (AVR) is to relieve left ventricular (LV) burden and normalized LV mass (LVM). During AVR, many surgeons make final decision to select the size of the prosthetic valve based on intraoperative measurement. It is ideal to place an aortic prosthesis that is appropriately sized to the patient. However, this is not always possible owing to insufficient ...

Replacement of the aortic valve with a new BjorkShiley prosthesis was performed in 1 10 patients during the period from November, 1971 to July, 1973. The previously reported Delrin-disc Bjork-Shiley valve had a built-in valvular leak of up to 10 percent due to .003” clearance. The new pyrolite-disc prosthesis is machined to a clearance of .001”. Excellent clinical results have been achieved in ...

Figure 1. A: angiographic image showing moderate-to severe aortic insufficiency due to low implantation of the prosthesis. B: traction using a snare catheter. C: relocation of the prosthesis in ascending aorta; the patency of the supraaortic vessels can be observed. D: implantation of the second prosthesis. E: echocardiographic follow-up showing the situation of both prostheses. F: computed tom...

The Starr-Edwards caged ball valve is one of the oldest cardiac valve prosthesis and was widely used all around the world in the past decades. Despite the long-term results that have been reported there are only a few cases reported that exceed 30 years of durability. Here in, we report a 53-year-old patient with a well-functioning 35-year-old aortic Starr-Edwards caged ball prosthesis.

OBJECTIVES The authors sought to investigate the accuracy of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE)-derived parameters in the identification of bileaflet aortic prosthesis dysfunction, compared with fluoroscopy (FL). BACKGROUND Identification of bileaflet aortic prosthesis dysfunction is challenging, because high mean pressure gradient (MPG >20 mm Hg) is not proof of prosthetic obstruction (AVP...

Transcatheter implantation of aortic valve prostheses is being performed with increasing frequency in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who are at high surgical risk. Either a transfemoral or a transapical approach is employed. Complications related to the procedure are relatively uncommon, but they provide information that is very useful for broadening our knowledge of the patho...