A vast unmet need exists for tricuspid valve (TV) repair for functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) among patients undergoing left heart valve surgery. The FTR is a dynamic entity that is governed by several pathophysiologic mechanisms like TV annular dilatation, annular shape, pulmonary hypertension, left or right ventricle dysfunction, right ventricle geometry, and leaflet tethering. Treatm...

BACKGROUND Heart valve disease is a significant and increasing global problem in the developing world. The aim of this study is to evaluate the incidence of postoperative complications and mortality in patients who underwent heart valve replacement. METHODS In this prospective study, 320 adult cases (186 females and 134 males, mean age of: 45.7 ± 15.0) with valvular heart diseases who underwe...

Certain subsets of high-risk mitral valve patients are not suitable candidates for transcatheter therapies. The objective of this report is to present a young patient with combined mitral valve and coronary artery disease to illustrate these challenges.In this report, we present a 47-year-old man with longstanding HIV infection who was referred with severe mitral regurgitation (MR) and profound...

There is increasing evidence for activation of developmental transcriptional regulatory pathways in heart valve disease. Here, we review molecular regulatory mechanisms involved in heart valve progenitor development, leaflet morphogenesis, and extracellular matrix organization that also are active in diseased aortic valves. These include regulators of endothelial-to-mesenchymal transitions, suc...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the success rates and prognosis of heart valvuloplasty and valve replacement for elderly patients, and to provide clinical evidence. METHODS A total of 1240 patients who received heart valve surgeries in our hospital from June 2004 to October 2014 were selected and retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into two groups based on age (60), and those older than 60 (Grou...

Cinefluorographic analysis of mitral valve motion in intact clogs provided evidence that the motility of the valve cusps is restrained by tension exerted through the chordae tendineae throughout the cardiac cycle, except for the rapid filling phase. At the onset of ventricular systole, early contraction of the papillary muscles may play an important role in approximating the mitral valve cusps....

Seven patients have been described who developed a third heart sound in association with a paravalvar leak around a Starr-Edwards mitral valve prosthesis. These patients had all had the mitral valve cusps, chordae tendineae, and part of the papillary muscles excised. The presence of a third heart sound in them supports the concept of Potain (I900) that the third heart sound arises by vibrations...

Heart valve replacement is fast becoming a routine surgery worldwide, and heart valve prostheses are today considered among the most widely used cardiovascular devices. Mechanical and bioprostheses have been the traditional choices to the replacement surgeries. However, such valves continue to expose patients to risks including thrombosis, infection and limited valve durability. In recent years...

BACKGROUND In middle income countries, the burden of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains high, but the prevalence of other heart valve diseases may rise as the population life expectancy increases. Here, we compared population-based data on surgical procedures to assess the relative importance of causes of heart valve disease in Salvador, Brazil. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Medical chart...

From 1982 till 1999, our department performed a total of 2970 heart valve replacements--92% of which were with mechanical heart valves. During this period, there were 8 patients who came to our department with mechanical heart valve obstruction. All these patients presented with signs of heart failure or compromised haemodynamic. Confirmatory tests included transthoracic or transoesophageal ech...