BACKGROUND Patients who undergo tricuspid annuloplasty during left-side heart valve surgery have a poor postoperative clinical outcome. However, preoperative right ventricular (RV) echocardiography parameters that predict adverse events in these patients are poorly understood. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 74 patients (age, 58±10 years; men, 27%) with significant tricuspid regurgitation who ...

BACKGROUND Benfluorex was withdrawn from European markets in June 2010 after reports of an association with heart valve lesions. The link between benfluorex and valve regurgitations was based on small observational studies and retrospective estimations. We therefore designed an echocardiography-based multicenter study to compare the frequency of left heart valve regurgitations in diabetic patie...

BACKGROUND Early outcomes after tricuspid valve replacement in young children are ill defined. The experience of the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium (45 centers, 1984 to 2002) was reviewed to evaluate the results of tricuspid valve replacement in children <6 years of age. METHODS AND RESULTS Ninety-seven patients who underwent initial tricuspid valve replacement are included in the present ...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine whether the morphologic subtype of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is associated with valve intervention in the young. BACKGROUND Analysis of BAV morphology is of prognostic relevance, as the fusion of right- and noncoronary leaflets (R-N) is associated with a greater degree of valve dysfunction compared with other subtypes. However, it is current...

AIMS New-onset left bundle branch block (LBBB) and complete atrioventricular block (AV3B) frequently occur following transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). We sought to determine the timing and potential mechanisms of new conduction abnormalities (CAs) during TAVI, using the Medtronic CoreValve System (MCS). METHODS AND RESULTS Sixty-five consecutive patients underwent TAVI with cont...

Thirty-seven consecutive cases of mitral valve replacement have been retrospectively reviewed. The prognostic significance of preoperative clinical, hemodynamic and quantitative angiographic factors for survival has been evaluated. In the Mitral stenosis (MS) group, all of the patients who showed small Stroke volume index (SVI) (less than 45 ml/m2) with pulmonary hypertension died from the low ...

Background This study was performed to determine independent predictors of long-term outcome after percutaneous balloon dilation of congenital pulmonary valve stenosis. Smaller follow-up series of patients after balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty have shown inconsistent results regarding the independent relation between prognostic factors and longterm outcome, as many patient selection and technic...

Background: Heart valve disease gradually increases the pressure in the heart chambers and impairs heart pumping. It influences on quality of life due to low output, disability, fear, amnesia, anxiety, and depression. Although most of signs and symptoms in patients with heart valve diseases may significantly decrease after valve replacement surgery, there is limited information about the impact...

The continuity equation suggests that a ratio of velocities at two different cardiac valves is inversely proportional to the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the valves. To determine whether a ratio of mitral/aortic valve orifice velocities is useful in determining aortic valve area in patients with aortic stenosis, 10 control subjects and 22 patients with predominant aortic stenosis were exam...

The continuity equation suggests that a ratio of velocities at two different cardiac valves is inversely proportional to the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the valves. To determine whether a ratio of mitral/aortic valve orifice velocities is useful in determining aortic valve area in patients with aortic stenosis, 10 control subjects and 22 patients with predominant aortic stenosis were exam...