Ascending aortic dissection is often a catastrophic condition. Dissection into the commissures or into an aortic valve leaflet may lead to leaflet avulsion and valvular insufficiency due to a flail valve. We present an image report describing an important and life-threatening complication due to the movement of a partially dehisced intimal aortic flap into the left ventricle causing aortic valv...

We read with a great interest the manuscript by Benedik et al. [1] published in the recent issue of European Journal of CardioThoracic Surgery. Benedik et al. should be congratulated for prospectively addressing the issue of proximal aortic disease in aortic valve stenosis vs aortic valve insufficiency in a reasonable number of consecutively enrolled patients. The background of this study is of...

PATIENTS presenting with high-pitched diastolic decrescendo murmurs along the left sternal border may have insufficiency of either the aortic or pulmonary semilunar valve. If the peripheral pulses are those of aortic insufficiency in type, the source of the diastolic murmur is located easily. However, in the absence of both the peripheral physical signs of aortic insufficiency and the electroca...

A 55-year-old male with a history of two prior cardiac surgeries presented with decompensated heart failure due to severe bioprosthetic aortic valve insufficiency. A third operation was viewed prohibitively high risk and valve-in-valve trans-catheter aortic valve replacement was considered. There were however several high-risk features and technically challenging aspects including low coronary ...

AIMS We assessed the feasibility of percutaneous implantation of a valve in the descending aorta and its function in systemic pressures. METHODS AND RESULTS A biological valve harvested from a bovine jugular vein was sutured into a stent. After the creation of aortic insufficiency, the valved stent was percutaneously implanted into eight lambs divided into two groups depending on the severity...

The technical details of aortic valve reimplantation as a treatment for aortic root aneurism with or without aortic valve insufficiency has been previously described in several studies (1,2). Variations in the aortic valve reimplantation operation have been developed, with the common goal of achieving not only perfect intraoperative results, but also long-term stability. The Valsalva graft (Vas...

a 31 year old woman was hospitalized for evaluation of aortic valve insufficiency and her present cardiac status. clinical and paraclinical findings strongly suggested the presence of a collagen vascular inflammatory processprecisely, the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (aps), with systemic lupus erythematosus as the underlying disease.

OBJECTIVES We sought to create a model of aortic insufficiency in a left heart simulator combined with 3-dimensional echocardiography and finite element modeling of the aortic valve. We examined the effects of aortic root geometry alteration on aortic insufficiency. METHODS Porcine aortic roots were analyzed on a left heart simulator before (control, n = 8) and after intervention (n = 8). Int...

In the aortic stenosis group, the left ventricular (LV) muscle mass index was a good parameter for predicting the prognosis. Associated mitral valve disease had no influence on long term survival after aortic valve replacement. In the aortic insufficiency group, associated mitral valve disease had a marked influence on the results of aortic valve replacement. In general, the aortic insufficienc...

Objective: To evaluate long term results and independent predictors of outcome of aortic valvoplasty. Design: Retrospective follow up study. Independent predictors of outcome identified by multiple logistic regression. Setting: Tertiary referral centre. Patients: 269 consecutive patients treated at the median age of 8 months (0–23 years): 80 (30%) under 4 weeks, 59 (22%) between 4 weeks and 1 y...