Diagnosis, treatment & management of prosthetic valve thrombosis: the key considerations.

Diagnosis, treatment & management of prosthetic valve thrombosis: the key considerations. Expert Rev Med Devices. 2020 Feb 21;: Authors: Gündüz S, Kalçık M, Gürsoy MO, Güner A, Özkan M Abstract Introduction: Prosthetic heart valve thrombosis is a life-threatening complication after valve replacement surgery. Although subtherapeutic anticoagulation is the main cause, there are many other conventional and esoteric predisposing factors.Areas covered: The etiopathogenesis, diagnosis and management of prosthetic heart valve thrombosis with particular focus on conventional and esoteric predisposing factors, diagnosis with multimodality imaging and current therapeutic approaches were covered.Expert opinion: Subtherapeutic anticoagulation remains the key driving force for development of prosthetic valve thrombosis. However, cardiologists should be cognizant of other frequent or rare conventional and esoteric causes. The diagnosis is now more straightforward with the use of multimodality imaging. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography with or without real-time three-dimensional imaging are the current gold standard modalities. Multidetector computed tomography is now a major complementary tool. The favorable clinical outcomes with recently introduced slow or ultra-slow infusions of alteplase, as compared to relatively poor surgical results, has rendered thrombolytic therapy the first-line treatment option in most eligib...
Source: Expert Review of Medical Devices - Category: Medical Devices Tags: Expert Rev Med Devices Source Type: research