Mechanical Valves

The flow of blood through the heart is controlled by four valves. If any are not working correctly, blood cannot flow or be pumped effectively to the heart. The four valves are: the tricuspid, pulmonary semilunar, mitral, and aortic semilunar. There are many abnormalities or defects that can affect their operation and in this paper, I will discuss the most common one which is a “mitral valve prolapse.” A valvular prolapse is an abnormal protrusion of a heart valve that causes the valve to not close completely. It is also known as “click murmur syndrome” and “Barlow’s syndrome” and is more prevalent in women than men. It has a strong hereditary

The blood vessel that Dr. Eltahawy was concerned about was thin and looked as though it would collapse in on itself. First, Dr. Eltahawy tried a balloon catheter. At the top of the catheter was a small balloon that could inflate to maintain a shape or structure of a blood vessel. However, because the blood vessel was so thin, the balloon catheter was not very effective. Instead, Dr. Eltahawy installed a stent. A stent is a wire mesh tube. It is placed in a blood vessel permanently to maintain the shape of the vessel and to allow for the free flow of blood. Throughout this entire independent study, I realize that shadowing in the medical field is less about learning about medicine and more about discovering about whether becoming a doctor is the right step. This independent study has been a step in the right

There are two types of artificial hearts, the first being a pump that is connected to the patient’s circulatory system; it maintains life when the patient’s heart is stopped for the surgeons to be able to operate on the heart. The second type is a self-contained mechanical heart that sits completely in the patient’s chest cavity. This second type of heart is known as a “VAD” pump which pumps blood from the left ventricle to the aorta. Most mechanical hearts use a centrifugal pump, which is quieter, uses less energy and lasts longer than the piston type mechanical hearts. The centrifugal pump produces a constant flow of blood around the body; therefore the patient will not have a

This past Friday in the cardiac catheterization lab I began my day with continuing the work that I was previously assigned to do last week where I collected the data of patient's Cardiothoracic surgery. I continued to familiarize myself with the different types of Cardiothoracic surgery procedures, however, the specific reports I was working with, they are called TAVR report (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement). I later learned and was explained to, the TAVR multiple procedures and its causes, which is aortic stenosis. As for the procedures, a valve needs to be placed in the heart and each procedure delivers it a different way. The three ways the valve can be placed in the heart is through the heart's femoral artery (the transfemoral approach),

Blood clotting caused by the new valve. Replacement with a mechanical valve requires lifelong treatment with medicine to prevent blood clots.

surgical team had worked together to build a biomaterial to place in our patient to fix her

My team of doctors at Cincinnati Children’s hospital told my parents that my heart condition was unfixable and that I needed a heart transplant, maybe even a heart/lung transplant. I was put on a waiting list and was very sick. At the age of 2.5 months, the heart team came up with a new plan and decided to try and fix my heart. The odds were not in my favor. However, the first surgery was successful, and I’ve since had two more, for a total of three open heart surgeries. I, now, have an artificial mitral valve. Once I received this piece of metal, I started feeling

For many patients, surgery is performed on the damaged valves. Surgery types differ for each individual depending upon which valves were affected, how severely they were infected, and if valves had previously been replaced artificially. Before surgery, patients must undergo a series of strenuous tests and careful assessments to be sure he or she qualifies for surgery. In a particular study, several patients were able to undergo valve replacement surgery.

even fatal to patients. When the malformations of the valve reach a critical point in

future, however the demand and knowledge for these types of products is not as well-known as

One of the leading causes of death for men and women in the United States can be attributed to Coronary Artery Disease. In the medical world, treatments are ever-changing and improving the chance of survival from this disease. One such treatment, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) with stent placement, is now used in more than 80% of CAD cases with an exceedingly high success rate (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/161446-overview). With any procedure, there is a number of tools at the doctor’s fingertips, and a new experimental technology in the stent world has risen with temporary bio-absorbable stents. The following document will briefly explain the procedure and their use in percutaneous coronary intervention.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation is a very important and difficult surgery for aortic valve and this surgery happened instead of aortic valve replacement. TAVI is an invasive procedure to aortic valve. In this invasive surgery a new valve that is made from biological materials of cows, is inserted through a catheter to the heart.

Since the BRIDGE trial, there has been a decrease in the number of bridging procedures in the low-to-moderate risk patients with atrial fibrillation. To reiterate, patients with non-mechanical heart valve atrial fibrillation with low bleed risk procedures and have a lower CHADS2/CHA2DS2-Vasc score are less likely to need bridging, than those with high risk procedures and CHADS2/CHA2DS2-Vasc scores. However, risk vs. benefit in using bridging in atrial fibrillation should always be

Firstly, the main function of the implanted stent is to prevent arteries from clogging back up and allowing blood to flow through. Secondly, we believe that our implant material should be fatigue resistant because it experience pulsatile flow due to the presence of a pulsatile blood pressure. The implant should be stronger in radial than shear because the implant will have to withstand significant amount of force from the fatty deposits of the vessels. Additionally, the implant should have minimum reactivity with blood constituents because we don’t want to induce unnecessary thrombosis or any sort of inflammation. Thirdly, we believe that class 1 biomaterial are ideal for our implant because our material requires failure loads of 10-50 times the body weights, meaning it has to be extremely strong. Furthermore, we believe that our material should have extremely high resistance to compressive deformation as well as little reactivity with the environment, in order to accomplish the necessary

In considering between tissue or mechanical valve replacement, published data has indicated that strong consideration should be given to patients over 60 years of age to choose tissue over a mechanical valve