Echocardiography
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Intermittent dysfunction of mechanical mitral valve prosthesis is an uncommon condition. It carries serious clinical implications if unrecognized. ⋯ Clinical examination revealed intermittent loss of closing clicks followed by a pansystolic murmur at the apex, suggestive of mitral prosthetic valve dysfunction. We highlight the echocardiographic findings of paroxysmal mitral valvular regurgitation secondary to prosthetic valve malfunction secondary to prosthetic valve thrombosis.
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Neither two- nor three-dimensional (3D) planimetry of the mitral valve (MV) orifice takes the mitral commissures into account. Thus, if the commissures are not completely fused, the MV orifice will not be planar, and MV area (MVA) will be underestimated. The study aimed to validate a novel method for measurement of the MVA using a software that traces the MV orifice including the commissures. ⋯ Measurement of the MVA using the MVN method is feasible and is more correlated to the invasively measured MVA than the 3D planimetry method. This is the most accurate method of measuring the MVA that takes MV commissures into account.
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Anomalous origin of left coronary artery from pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) accounts for 0.4% of the congenital heart diseases. Comprehensive 2D and 3D transesophageal echocardiographic imaging of a well-collateralized subset of ALCAPA is described. ⋯ Pulse-wave interrogation of the coronary arteries showed the direction of flow in opposite directions. Using the real time-3D, the en-face views of the origins of both coronaries were also demonstrated.