Repair of mitral valve (MV) leaflet prolapse using chordal replacement is an established procedure in open heart surgery for the treatment of mitral regurgitation (MR). The technique has proven high reproducibility and excellent longterm outcomes for posterior leaflet prolaspe, with freedom from valve-related reoperation of 95%.1,2 Striving toward a lessinvasive treatment for structural heart d...

Aortic stenosis is one of the more commonly encountered disease processes in valvular heart disease, affecting over 300,000 people worldwide. Surgical replacement of the aortic valve has been the mainstay of therapy for decades; however, in certain patients with prohibitively high-risk comorbidities, surgery is not a viable option. The advent of transcatheter aortic valve replacement has come t...

The aortic valve operates in a complex haemodynamic environment, opening and closing over 100,000 times a day. When complications arise, such as aortic stenosis, prognosis can be very poor, leading to death within the first few years. Surgical valve replacement is currently the standard treatment for aortic stenosis. A thorough understanding of the anatomy and function of the native valve is im...

We report two patients with a history of prior mitral valve and aortic valve replacement with St. Jude prosthetic valves, who were referred for repeat valve replacement after noninvasive assessment was suggestive of prosthetic valve malfunction. Both patients were managed medically after evaluation with direct left ventricular apical puncture revealed normal hemodynamics in the first and mild a...

A 56-year-old patient with severe pulmonary hypertension developed severe tricuspid regurgitation, right-sided heart failure, and congestive hepatopathy. She was transferred for possible lung transplant and/or tricuspid valve surgery. Clinical and echocardiographic assessment provided confidence that acute tricuspid valve failure was responsible for the decompensation and that tricuspid valve r...

We experienced a case of aortic valve replacement after previous coronary artery bypass grafting with patent bypass grafts. Based on the retrosternal anatomy assessed by preoperative angiography and thoracic computed tomography, aortic valve replacement was performed through a median resternotomy. After careful dissection of the right side of the heart and the ascending aorta, cardiopulmonary b...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the short-term and mid-term follow-ups of patients with heart failure and moderate to severe mitral valve insufficiency and who have undergone mitral valve replacement with crossed papillopexy and annular constriction. METHODS Thirteen patients in NYHA functional class III or IV, with a mean age of 54.1 years and with idiopathic etiology, underwent mitral valve replacemen...

1. Whitlock RP , Sun JC , Fremes SE , Rubens FD , Teoh KH . Antithrombotic and thrombolytic therapy for valvular disease: antithrombotic therapy and prevention of thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians evidence-based clinical practice guidelines . Chest . 2012 ; 141 ( 2)(suppl ): e576S e600S . 2. Koertke H , Minami K , Boethig D , et al . INR self-management permits lower anti...

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...

Occurrence of bioprosthetic valve thrombosis less than a year after replacement is very uncommon. Here, we describe a case of a 57 year old male, who presented 10 months after receiving a bioprosthetic mitral valve replacement with a two week history of dyspnea on exertion, worsening orthopnea and decreased exercise tolerance. Echocardiography revealed severe mitral regurgitation (MR), thrombos...