title: Imaging of pannus formation in patients with mechanical heart valves.
abstract: Patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM) should be recognized in patients with elevated transprosthetic gradients but without leaflet immobility, since the treatment strategy may differ in either etiology. However, thrombus and/or pannus formation should be excluded before a diagnosis of PPM is made. Particularly, pannus formation may not be diagnosed with 2-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography. Electrocardiographically gated 64-section multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) may be a promising tool in diagnosing or excluding pannus formation. Our report underlines the utility of MDCT in this regard and also emphasizes the importance of recognition of PPM as a differential diagnosis in such patients.
authors.affiliation: Sabahattin Gündüz, Mehmet Özkan, Mahmut Yesin, Department of Cardiology, Kosuyolu Kartal Heart Training and Research Hospital, 34846 İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sabahattin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gündüz
authors.affiliation: Sabahattin Gündüz, Mehmet Özkan, Mahmut Yesin, Department of Cardiology, Kosuyolu Kartal Heart Training and Research Hospital, 34846 İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Özkan
authors.affiliation: Sabahattin Gündüz, Mehmet Özkan, Mahmut Yesin, Department of Cardiology, Kosuyolu Kartal Heart Training and Research Hospital, 34846 İstanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mahmut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yesin
keywords: Multidetector computed tomography; Pannus formation; Patient prosthesis mismatch; Prosthetic heart valves; Transesophageal echocardiography