Prosthetic Valve Leakage following Cardiac Valve Replacements

¹ Sully Hospital, Regional Thoracic Centre, Sully, Nr. cardiff, Wales

Thirty cases were evaluated in order to study the etiology of prosthetic valvular dehiscence in view of its continued occurrence in a small percentage of cases. The clinical course, management, initial valvular pathology, as well as findings at reoperation and necropsy were the main basis of this study. Factors in the genesis of prosthetic valvular dehiscence in the early and late groups seemed to be distinctly different. Of the 24 patients in the early group, defined as those with evident regurgitation within six months of the operation, in 12 the stitches, which were well tied in, had come loose from the tissue bed. The left ventricular contraction was believed to be the disrupting force in at least six patients with grossly dilated mitral ring.