Cor Vasa 2023, 65(1):90-99 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2022.054

Prosthetic valve thrombosis: literature review and two case reports

Kotryna Druteikaitė^a, Simona Bėrontaitė^a, Gintarė Valterytė^b, Gediminas Jaruševičius^{b, c}

^a Faculty of Medicine, Academy of Medicine, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania

^b Department of Cardiology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Clinics, Kaunas, Lithuania

^c Cardiology Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania

Prosthetic heart valve thrombosis is one of the most dangerous prosthetic valve complications. Proper monitoring and management of these patients help to prevent this complication. Fluoroscopy is advantageous in cases of thrombosis to assess the function of the prosthetic valve by measuring opening and closing angles. We describe two cases of aortic mechanical valve thrombosis with different mechanisms of thrombus formation. The first case was a 48-year-old woman admitted to the hospital because of shortness of breath during minimal exertion and significantly reduced exercise tolerance. Due to rheumatic heart disease the patient underwent aortic and mitral mechanical prosthesis and has been using warfarin in therapeutic norms. During echocardioscopy aortic prosthesis obstruction and severe tricuspid valve regurgitation were observed. The patient was scheduled for aortic root and TV prosthesis surgery. The second patient also had aortic mechanical valve due to severe aortic stenosis caused by rheumatism and presented with organizing pneumonia and progressing respiratory failure as complications of the COVID-19 infection and was admit- ted with dyspnea, cough, and weakness. Aortic prosthetic valve thrombosis was diagnosed despite optimal treatment and therapeutic INR.

Keywords: Aortic valve, Mechanical prosthesis, Prosthetic valve thrombosis

Received: April 25, 2022; Revised: April 25, 2022; Accepted: May 4, 2022; Published: March 1, 2023  Show citation