Survival rate of patients undergoing aortic, mitral, and tricuspid valve replacement with prosthetic valves

Objectives: The burden of valvular heart disease (VHD) is high and increasing all around the world due to aging of the population. The etiologic factors of VHD are different among countries. There is little data about etiologic factors of VHD in Iran. The aim of present study was to determine the associated factors related to the 5-year survival and mortality rate of patients undergoing bileaflet mechanical valve replacement. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, demographic, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic data of patients who had underwent aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve replacement with bileaflet valves in the Afshar Hospital in Yazd, Iran, between March 2008 to February 2015 were obtained from their records. Supplementary information like hemorrhagic or thromboembolic events, rehospitalization and death during follow-up were gathered through contact with patients. For analysis of the data, SPSS ver. 19 was used. Results: Four hundred and thirty eight patients entered the study. Male gender was slightly predominant (%53). Mean age of the patients was 51.6 ± 17.4 years. The rate of in-hospital mortality was 9.8% while the 5-year survival rate was 82.42%. The rate of major thromboembolic events was 0.97%/year and that of major hemorrhagic events was 0.5%/year. Patients with older age, lower cardiac ejection fraction (less than 30%) and with atrial fibrillation had a higher rate of mortality (P = 0.001). In-hospital mortalities were 3%, 9%, 12% and 15% for AVR, AVR+MVR, MVR and CABG+valvular surgery, respectively. Conclusions: Higher rate of mitral valve surgery in this study may be due to possible predominance of rheumatic valvular pathology similar to other developing countries. Rate of 5-year survival, thromboembolic and hemorrhagic rates were acceptable and comparable to global reports.

Spontaneous Rupture of a Bicuspid Aortic Valve in a Middle-Aged Weightlifter

We describe a 58-year-old Caucasian male weightlifter who presented with acute shortness of breath after finishing his extensive exercise routine. Acute aortic valve regurgitation, due to spontaneous rupture of a bicuspid aortic valve, was diagnosed. Urgent surgical intervention was carried out, during which the bicuspid aortic valve was resected and replaced with an On-X bileaflet mechanical valve. The patient remains asymptomatic and is treated with warfarin, being in excellent physical condition 4 years after aortic valve replacement.

Flow structure in healthy and pathological left ventricles with natural and prosthetic mitral valves

In this paper, the structure and the dynamics of the flow in the left heart ventricle are studied for different pumping efficiencies and mitral valve types (natural, biological and mechanical prosthetic). The problem is investigated by direct numerical simulation of the Navier–Stokes equations, two-way coupled with a structural solver for the ventricle and mitral valve dynamics. The whole solver is preliminarily validated by comparisons with ad hoc experiments. It is found that the system works in a highly synergistic way and the left ventricular flow is heavily affected by the specific type of mitral valve, with effects that are more pronounced for ventricles with reduced pumping efficiency. When the ventricle ejection fraction (ratio of the ejected fluid volume to maximum ventricle volume over the cycle) is within the physiological range (50 %–70 %), regardless of the mitral valve geometry, the mitral jet sweeps the inner ventricle surface up to the apex, thus preventing undesired flow stagnation. In contrast, for pathological ejection fractions (⩽40 %), the flow disturbances introduced by the bileaflet mechanical valve reduce the penetration capability of the mitral jet and weaken the recirculation in the ventricular apex. Although in clinical practice the fatality rates in the five-year follow-ups for mechanical and biological mitral valve replacements are essentially the same, a breakdown of the deaths shows that the causes are very different for the two classes of prostheses and the present findings are consistent with the clinical data. This might have important clinical implications for the choice of prosthetic device in patients needing mitral valve replacement.

Acute Mitral Valve Dysfunction Due to Escape of Prosthetic Mechanical Leaflet and Peripheral Leaftlet Embolization

<strong>Background:</strong> Leaflet escape of prosthetic valve is rare but potentially life threatening. Early diagnosis is essential on account of avoiding mortality, and emergency surgical correction is compulsory. This complication has previously been reported for both monoleaflet and bileaflet valve models. <br /><strong>Methods:</strong> A 30-year-old man who had undergone mitral valve replacement with a bileaflet valve 8 years prior at another center was admitted with acute-onset with cardiogenic shock as an emergency case. Transthoracic echocardiograms showed acute-starting severe mitral regurgitation associated with prosthetic mitral valve. There was a suspicious finding of a single prosthetic mitral leaflet. But the problem related with the valve wasn’t specifically determined. The patient underwent emergent surgery for replacement of the damaged prosthetic valves immediately. There was no tissue impingement and thrombosis, one of the two leaflets was absent, and there were no signs of endocarditis or pannus formation in the prosthetic valve. The missing leaflet could not be found within the cardiac cavity. The abdominal fluoroscopic study and plain radiography were unable to detect the escaped leaflet during surgery. The damaged valve was removed and a replacement 29 mm bileaflet mechanical valve was inserted by right lateral thoracotomy. <br /><strong>Results:</strong> After post-operative week one, the abdominal computed tomography scan and the ultrasound showed the escaped leaflet in the left femoral artery. Fifteen days after the surgery the escaped leaflet was removed safely from the left femoral artery and the patient made a complete recovery. <br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The escaped leaflet showed a fracture of one of the pivot systems caused by structural failure. Early cardiac surgery should be applied because of life-threatening problems.