TITLE:
Acute Decompensated Heart Failure Secondary to Structural Valve Degeneration of a Bioprosthetic Valve
AUTHORS:
Carolyn J. Mehaffey, David Asher Cantor
KEYWORDS:
Structural Valve Degeneration; Heart Failure; Mitral Valve Replacement; Bioprosthetic Mitral Valve; Endocarditis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Anesthesiology,
Vol.4 No.2,
February
11,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Heart valve replacement is a common cardiac
surgical procedure used to treat native valvular diseases such as aortic and
mitral stenosis and regurgitation. These procedures reduce the morbidity and
mortality associated with diseased native valves and yet come at the expense of
prosthetic valve complications. Structural valve degeneration is one such
complication. We present a case of a critically ill elderly man who had undergone
mitral valve replacement 14 years prior to his current presentation. Only after
admission through the emergency department was a transesophageal echocardiogram
obtained and the diagnosis of prosthetic valve degeneration made. He
subsequently underwent successful replacement of his diseased prosthetic valve.