The heart valves play a vital role in ensuring blood flows correctly through the heart and the rest of the body. If they do not function correctly, a person may require surgery to replace the damaged ...

In general, mechanical valves tend to last longer than tissue valves, but patients who receive them have an increased risk of blood clots and must take anticoagulants. "After valve replacement surgery ...

When parts of the heart, such as the valves, do not work properly, it is possible to repair or replace them. The aortic and mitral valves are the ones that surgeons most commonly replace. Most valve ...

In replacement aortic valve procedures, bioprosthetic valves have become increasingly more common than mechanical replacements, since those made out of animal tissue are less likely to cause blood ...

Dr. Siddharth, usually referred to as Dr. Sidd, decided to repair and not replace Baer’s valve. He used an innovative technique called PVL closure to place a catheter in a small vein in the patient’s ...

AMES, Iowa – You’re in the middle of the aorta, the body’s pipeline for oxygen-rich blood, looking back toward the heart’s primary pump, the left ventricle. The ventricle muscle contracts and the ...

Earlier this year, when leaks around Louise Calhoun’s replacement mitral heart valve kept her from walking more than a few feet before needing to rest, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) ...

In patients undergoing aortic-valve or mitral-valve replacement, either a mechanical or biologic prosthesis is used. Biologic prostheses have been increasingly favored despite limited evidence ...