• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.419-421
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• 2021

Fracture of prosthetic valve leaflets in the absence of traumatic injury is very rare. Leaflet fracture can cause acute pulmonary edema and cardiogenic shock and is potentially life-threatening, requiring emergency surgery. Thus, a leaflet fracture must be diagnosed quickly and accurately. We present the case of a 46-year-old man with CarboMedics prosthetic aortic and mitral valve replacements implanted 24 years previously. The patient presented at our emergency department with abrupt dyspnea and fever. We diagnosed severe mitral valve regurgitation with anterior leaflet fracture. The patient underwent venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and delayed mitral valve replacement. The foreign body was removed step by step because the diagnosis was missed. Two pieces of broken leaflets were found in the left common iliac artery and left external iliac artery. The patient was treated successfully and remains asymptomatic 1 year following surgery.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.750-755
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• 1992

We report a case of leaflet embolization of central leaflet fracture a 31mm mitral Edw-ards-Duromedics prosthesis. A leaflet was fractured to two segments, a larger one embolized to right common iliac artery and a smaller one to left femoral artery, respectively. Patient was reoperated with 29mm mitral Carbomedics prosthesis and incidentally found of smaller segment in left femoral artery at cannulation site. The embolectomy was done 15 days after cardiac operation through midline abdominal incision, Leaflet escape of a mitral Edward-Duromedics prosthesis is a rare, potentially curable mode of valve failure. After mechanical valve replacement, unexplained heart failure and acute pulmonary edema, mechanical valve failure should be suspected. Correct interpretation of clinical signs, symptoms and fluroscopy should allow early diagnosis of leaflet escape and prompt surgical therapy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.1 s.270
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• pp.63-65
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• 2007

Incidence of valve leaflet escape after mechanical valve replacement is very low. We report a case of leaflet fracture and escape in an Edwards TEKNA bileaflet valve.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1761-1772
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• 2005

In blood flow passing through the mechanical heart valve (MHV) and elastic blood vessel, hemolysis and platelet activation causing thrombus formation can be seen owing to the shear stress in the blood. Also, fracture and deformation of leaflets can be observed depending on the shape and material properties of the leaflets which is opened and closed in a cycle. Hence, comprehensive study is needed on the hemodynamics which is associated with the motion of leaflet and elastic blood vessel in terms of fluid-structure interaction. In this paper, a numerical analysis has been performed for a three-dimensional pulsatile blood flow associated with the elastic blood vessel and curved bileaflet for multiple cycles in light of fluid-structure interaction. From this analysis fluttering phenomenon and rebound of the leaflet have been observed and recirculation and regurgitation have been found in the flow fields of the blood. Also, the pressure distribution and the radial displacement of the elastic blood vessel have been obtained. The motion of the leaflet and flow fields of the blood have shown similar tendency compared with the previous experiments carried out in other studies. The present study can contribute to the design methodology for the curved bileaflet mechanical heart valve. Furthermore, the proposed fluid-structure interaction method will be effectively used in various fields where the interaction between fluid flow and structure are involved.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.60-63
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• 2002

Edwards Duromedics mechanical valve was introduced into clinical use in 1982 and is still being used today after several modifications. Valve-related complications after mechanical valve replacement are thiombo-embolism, endocarditis, valve malfunction, valve leaflet escape and fracture. Incidence of valve leaflet escape is very low. A 40 year-old male patient who had undergone mitral replacement with a 31mm Edwards Duromedics mechanical valve(model