The first mechanical heart valve prosthesis, designed by Dr Charles Hufnagel, was implanted to the descending aorta of a 30-year-old woman with severe aortic regurgitation in 1952.1 Eight years after the initial successful prosthetic valve implantation, Dr Harken sutured a prosthetic valve (Starr Edwards Valve) to the aortic annulus after removing the diseased native valve. During the ensuing y...

Transcatheter aortic valves implantation (TAVI) is a valid treatment for high-risk surgical candidates with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis; the safety and effectiveness of TAVI have been demonstrated in numerous clinical studies, national registries and randomized trials. Nevertheless, from this cohort of patients have been often excluded patients with prior mitral valve surgery because con...

Results Redo open-heart surgery was performed, using femoral cannulation, mild hypothermia at 28°C, and circulatory arrest during 4 minutes, just to open and inspect the aorta. A big cavity acting as the aortic root, with irregular contour was observed. The floor of the cavity was the aortic prosthesis, the roof the beginning of true aortic root including both coronary ostia and the walls were ...

We report a case of a male patient who received an implantation of a Starr-Edwards-caged-ball-valve-prosthesis in 1967. The surgery and postoperative course were without complications and the patient recovered well after the operation. For the next four decades, the patient remained asymptomatic--no restrictions on his lifestyle and without any complications. In 2006, 39 years after the initial...

introduction: rheumatic heart disease still remains one of the leading causes of congestive heart failure and death owing to valvular pathologies, in developing countries. valve replacement still remains the treatment of choice in such patients.the aim of this study wasto analyze the postoperative outcome of  double valve replacement (mitral and aortic ) in patients of rheumatic heart disease. ...

The first mechanical heart valve prosthesis, designed by Dr Charles Hufnagel, was implanted to the descending aorta of a 30-year-old woman with severe aortic regurgitation in 1952.1 Eight years after the initial successful prosthetic valve implantation, Dr Harken sutured a prosthetic valve (Starr Edwards Valve) to the aortic annulus after removing the diseased native valve. During the ensuing y...

OBJECTIVE "Patient-prosthesis mismatch" (PPM) after aortic valve replacement (AVR) has been reported to increase morbidity and mortality. Although algorithms have been developed to avoid PPM, factors favouring its occurrence have not been well defined. DESIGN AND SETTING This was a prospective cohort study performed at the Medical University of Vienna. PATIENTS 361 consecutive patients who ...

Introduction: Rheumatic heart disease still remains one of the leading causes of congestive heart failure and death owing to valvular pathologies, in developing countries. Valve replacement still remains the treatment of choice in such patients.The aim of this study wasto analyze the postoperative outcome of  double valve replacement (Mitral and Aortic ) in patients of rheumatic heart disease. ...

Introduction: Prosthetic valve thrombosis is a rare and severe complication of valve replacement, most often encountered with a mechanical prosthesis. The significant morbidity and mortality associated with this condition warrant rapid diagnostic evaluation. Although surgery is the first-line therapy in symptomatic obstructive mechanical valve thrombosis, thrombolytic therapy has been used as a...

BACKGROUND Patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM) after aortic valve replacement (AVR) is the subject of continuing debate in the cardiac surgery field. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency and severity of patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM) and the functional status of patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) using a CarboMedics prosthesis in the mid-term follow ...