Transesophageal echocardiographic features of normal and dysfunctioning bioprosthetic valves

Prosthetic heart valves: Types and echocardiographic evaluation

“…In one series [80], transesophageal echocardiography correctly identified the severity of regurgitation in all the malfunctioning prosthetic valves as opposed to only 54% accurate estimation of severity with transthoracic echocardiography. In another study [81], compared with transthoracic, transesophageal echocardiography had a higher sensitivity and specificity for detecting morphological abnormalities in prosthetic valves in patients with either bioprostheses or mechanical valves and in patients with prosthesis in either aortic or mitral position.…”

“…The acoustic shadowing from prosthesis may lead to nonvisualization or underestimation of the severity of the regurgitation, especially with mechanical valves [88][89][90][91][92][93][94]. The transthoracic approach is better for the evaluation of aortic prosthetic valve regurgitation than the mitral prosthetic valve regurgitation because the prosthesis at aortic position does not interface in between the transducer and the regurgitant jet [77][78][79][80][81].…”

“…Transesophageal echocardiography is better than transthoracic echocardiography in detecting the severity of the prosthetic valve regurgitation [80][81][82][83][84]. In one series [80], transesophageal echocardiography correctly identified the severity of regurgitation in all the malfunctioning prosthetic valves as opposed to only 54% accurate estimation of severity with transthoracic echocardiography.…”

Transesophageal Doppler Echocardiographic Assessment of Left-Sided Bioprosthetic Regurgitation: Comparison with the Transthoracic Approach

“…A flail cusp was defined as movement of one or more leaflets well beyond the level of the sewing ring or total inversion of the cusp during systole for a mitral biopros thesis and during diastole for an aortic bioprosthesis [6,8]. Transtho racic pulsed and continuous Doppler was also applied to search for striation of the regurgitant jet and used as an indirect indicator of a tom or flail cusp [3,4] (fig.…”

Trombose de prótese biológica mitral: importância do ecocardiograma transesofágico no diagnóstico e acompanhamento pós-tratamento

“…This technique provides accurate images for the definition of the thickness of the leaflets and their mobility, allowing an a dequate diagnosis of calcifications, stenoses, and ruptures [9][10][11][12] . Nonetheless, the descriptions of bioprosthetic mitral valve thrombosis on TEE are rare [13][14][15][16][17] .…”