Open AccessMicroemboli in Cerebral Circulation and Alteration of Cognitive Abilities in Patients With Mechanical Prosthetic Heart Valves
Author(s) -
Ghislaine Deklunder,
Martine Roussel,
J.L. Lecroart,
Alain Prat,
C. Gautier
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
stroke
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.397
H-Index - 319
eISSN - 1524-4628
pISSN - 0039-2499
DOI - 10.1161/01.str.29.9.1821
Subject(s) - medicine , transcranial doppler , cognition , cerebral circulation , verbal memory , extracorporeal circulation , cardiology , working memory , stroke (engine) , embolus , episodic memory , embolism , psychiatry , engineering , mechanical engineering
It has been shown previously that cerebral microemboli may occur frequently in patients with a normal mechanical heart valve (MHV) without prior history of stroke. Some arguments strongly suggest that these microemboli have a gaseous origin. In other circumstances such as extracorporeal circulation or decompression in divers, it has been demonstrated that cerebral microbubbles could lead to some deterioration in cognitive functions. Therefore, we have studied attention and memory, which are among the most impaired cognitive functions as demonstrated in previous studies, in patients with an MHV.
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