Clinical Features and Survival Analysis of Patients after Mechanical Heart Valve Replacement, with an Emphasis on Prosthetic Valve Thrombosis.

Background: Valvular heart diseases are highly prevalent in the world, and surgical valve replacement has improved patients' survival.

Objectives: To describe clinical and laboratory data of patients undergoing mechanical valve replacement, and to determine the incidence of prosthetic valve thrombosis (PVT).

Methods: Retrospective cohort study with a follow-up of up to nine years.

Systemic microvascular dysfunction in COVID-19.

COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), while having lung injury as its most prominent feature, has been increasingly shown to affect endothelial cell function and the microvasculature. In this report, a woman with COVID-19, cardiac valve disease and spherocytosis was assessed with laser Doppler perfusion monitoring. Systemic microvascular reactivity was impaired during a worsening phase of COVID-19, but improved after clinical recovery; microcirculatory dysfunction paralleled systemic inflammation and pulmonary involvement.