| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 24
| Issue : 4 | Page : 103-113 |
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Echocardiographic assessment of heart valve prostheses
Chiara Sordelli1, Sergio Severino2, Luigi Ascione2, Pasquale Coppolino1, Pio Caso2
1 Chair of Cardiology, Second University of Naples, Italy
2 Unit of Cardiology, Vincenzo Monaldi Hospital, Azienda Ospedaliera di Rilievo Nazionale, Ospedali dei Colli, Naples, Italy
Correspondence Address:
Chiara Sordelli
Via della Gioventù 12 80059, Torre del greco (NA)
Italy
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/2211-4122.147201
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Patients submitted to valve replacement with mechanical or biological prosthesis, may present symptoms related either to valvular malfunction or ventricular dysfunction from other causes. Because a clinical examination is not sufficient to evaluate a prosthetic valve, several diagnostic methods have been proposed to assess the functional status of a prosthetic valve. This review provides an overview of echocardiographic and Doppler techniques useful in evaluation of prosthetic heart valves. Compared to native valves, echocardiographic evaluation of prosthetic valves is certainly more complex, both for the examination and the interpretation. Echocardiography also allows discriminating between intra- and/or peri-prosthetic regurgitation, present in the majority of mechanical valves. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) requires different angles of the probe with unconventional views. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is the method of choice in presence of technical difficulties. Three-dimensional (3D)-TEE seems to be superior to 2D-TEE, especially in the assessment of paravalvular leak regurgitation (PVL) that it provides improved localization and analysis of the PVL size and shape. |
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