title: Obstruction of mechanical heart valve--diagnosis, surgical treatment and outcome.
abstract: From 1982 till 1999, our department performed a total of 2970 heart valve replacements--92% of which were with mechanical heart valves. During this period, there were 8 patients who came to our department with mechanical heart valve obstruction. All these patients presented with signs of heart failure or compromised haemodynamic. Confirmatory tests included transthoracic or transoesophageal echocardiography and cine fluoroscopy. Seven patients were operated upon urgently. Four of the patients had valve thrombosis. The time interval between the initial implantation and presentation varies from 4 months to 11.3 years. Six of the seven patients who were operated on recovered well from the surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, National Heart Institute, Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Pau
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yakub
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sallehuddin
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Awang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome