The surgical replacement of diseased heart valves is based on the premise that the prosthesis chosen to replace a stenotic or insufficient valve will have a beneficial impact on the patient’s heart function, taking into account the risks of surgery and the recognized complications of prosthetic heart valves. It is well established that mitral valve replacement (MVR) is associated with higher sh...

In patients with prosthetic heart valves non-cardiac surgery may require temporary discontinuation of oral anticoagulation. Although the risk of valve related thromboembolic complications may generally be only slightly increased during the short perioperative period, in the presence of certain risk factors, replacement of oral anticoagulation with heparin is recommended. In the presented patien...

introduction fungal prosthetic valve endocarditis (pve) is rare but serious complication of valve replacement surgery. candida species, particularly candida albicans is the most common isolated pathogen in fungal pve (1–6%of cases). case presentation we describe a 35-year-old woman who underwent mechanical mitral valve replacement about 3 years ago. she was admitted with neurological symptoms a...

INTRODUCTION We report a rare but severe pacemaker complication of a pacemaker lead perforating the papillary muscle. This induced severe tricuspid regurgitation and right heart failure. Patients suffering from right heart failure have an increased operative risk of open-heart surgery and therefore represent a clinical challenge due to the lack of clear guidelines. CASE PRESENTATION A 70-year...

BACKGROUND Owing to a lack of evidence, patients undergoing heart valve surgery have been offered exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) since 2009 based on recommendations for patients with ischaemic heart disease in Denmark. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of CR on the costs of healthcare use and sick leave among heart valve surgery patients over 12 months post surgery...

An 18-year old white youth presented with severe right heart failure and was found to have an obliterated and funnel-shaped right ventricle, massive tricuspid regurgitation, and mitral regurgitation. The haemodynamic findings were those of cardiomyopathy with obliteration on the right side. He underwent surgery consisting of decortication and peeling off of a thickened right ventricular endocar...

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...

INTRODUCTION Beating heart surgery on normothermic bypass simulates physiologic cardiac status. OBJECTIVES This study compared clinical and transmission electron microscopic aspects of myocardial protection during mitral valve replacement using warm retrograde perfusion in empty beating versus arrested heart with cold blood anterograde cardioplegia. METHODS Randomized study to evaluate myoc...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the chronotropic response to exercise during immediate and late postoperative period after atrial fibrillation and mitral valve surgical treatment by different techniques. METHODS Prospective controlled clinical study of 42 patients presenting chronic AF associated mitral valve disease, who underwent surgery by the techniques of pulmonary veins isolation (n=16), Modified...

acute fulminant myocarditis is a life-threatening inflammatory disease of the myocardium characterized by the rapid deterioration of the hemodynamic status of the affected individual. with prompt recognition and appropriate management, complete recovery of ventricular function is likely within a few weeks. we introduce a 28-year-old man with acute fulminant myocarditis, who experienced circulat...