Asian Cardiovasc Thorac Ann 2003;11:95
© 2003 Asia Publishing EXchange Ltd
IMAGES IN CARDIOTHORACIC MEDICINE AND SURGERY |
Partial Dehiscence of Mechanical Aortic Valve Due to Infective Endocarditis
Bektas Battaloglu, MD,
Nevzat Erdil, MD,
Vedat Nisanoglu, MD,
Feridun Kosar, MD1
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery
1 Department of Cardiology, Turgut Özal Medical Center, Inönü University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey
For reprint information contact: Bektas Battaloglu, MD Tel: 90 422 341 0660 Fax: 90 422 341 0728 email: bbattaloglu{at}inonu.edu.tr Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Turgut Özal Medical Center, Inönü University Faculty of Medicine, Elazig Yolu Street, Malatya 44069, Turkey.
A 32-year-old man underwent aortic valve replacement with a mechanical St. Jude prosthesis (St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, MN, USA). He had progressive congestive heart failure combined with traumatic hemolytic anemia and a high-grade fever suggestive of prosthetic valve endocarditis in the 3rd month after surgery. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed partial valve dehiscence resulting from infective endocarditis (Figure 1
). During urgent operation, dehiscence of three-quarters of the annulus was observed (Figure 2), and the prosthesis was replaced.
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Figure 1. Apical 5-chamber 2-dimensional transthoracic echocardiogram showing vegetations on a prosthetic aortic valve. Even more importantly, a perivalvular leak and partial dehiscence are also apparent.
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Figure 2. (A) Valve dehiscence seen intraoperatively. (B) Excised prosthetic valve with intact suture line (arrows) over a quarter of the aortic annulus.
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