Normal echocardiographic characteristics of the Sorin Bicarbon bileaflet prosthetic heart valve in the mitral and aortic positions.

Doppler echocardiographic characteristics of normally functioning Sorin Bicarbon prostheses were prospectively assessed in 226 consecutive patients (135 male and 91 female patients, mean age 61 +/- 10 years) with 233 valves in the mitral (n = 67) and aortic (n = 166) positions whose function was considered normal by clinical and echocardiographic evaluation. Patterns of "normal" transprosthetic leakage were assessed with transthoracic echocardiography in all valves and with transesophageal echocardiography in six selected mitral valve prostheses. For the mitral valve prostheses, we found that peak and mean gradient, as well as pressure half-time, were not significantly different in either the 25 or the 31 mm valves (median values from 15 to 10 mm Hg, from 4 to 4 mm Hg, and from 70 to 83 ms; p = Not significant for all).

Changes in effective aortic valve area during ejection in adults with aortic stenosis.

Measurements of valve orifice area in aortic stenosis are based on the assumption that orifice area remains constant throughout ejection and is independent of transvalvular gradients and flow. Recent studies, however, have suggested that the calculated valve area of calcific aortic stenosis may change in different flow conditions. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that in vivo effective orifice area of a stenotic aortic valve changes continuously during ejection, which would make a single area measurement a potentially inadequate indicator of the severity of the stenosis.

[The methods of using the echocardiogram in outpatients. The role of the cardiologist for more appropriate use of the procedure. The Ligurian Group of the Italian Society of Cardiovascular Echocardiography].

Concerns about the increasing medical care costs are causing the medical community to focus its attention on the appropriate of diagnostic tests such as echocardiography. Prerequisite to a better utilization of the limited economic resources assigned to our health care system is an analysis of how, why, and with which results diagnostic tests with a widespread use and relevant cost, like echocardiography, are requested. During the last 2 weeks of September 1994, a transversal, observational study was carried out at 13 hospital echocardiographic laboratories.

[Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of the new mechanical bileaflet Sorin Bicarbon valve prosthesis compared with St. Jude Medical].

Background: Despite the Bicarbon valve has been marketed for more than two years, no systematic Doppler evaluation of its normal functioning has yet been published. Therefore, the aims of this study were to establish the normal flow characteristics for the Bicarbon bileaflet prosthetic heart valve and to compare them with those obtained from the St. Jude Medical valve prosthesis.