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The Doppler paradox
Author(s) -
Ntalas Ioannis,
Karády Júlia,
Kapetanakis Stam,
Rajani Ronak
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
echocardiography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1540-8175
pISSN - 0742-2822
DOI - 10.1111/echo.13670
Subject(s) - medicine , fluoroscopy , mitral valve , radiology , mitral valve replacement , complication , computed tomography , thrombosis , cardiology , exertional dyspnea , surgery
Obstructive prosthetic valve thrombosis ( PVT ) is a rare but severe complication that usually occurs in the presence of suboptimal anticoagulation. Although fluoroscopy is commonly used to detect abnormal leaflet motion as a surrogate marker for PVT , its inability to directly visualize adjacent tissue and valve physiology leaves it susceptible to miss clinically important PVT . In this manuscript, we report the case of a 54‐year‐old woman with a mechanical mitral valve who was admitted to our institute with exertional dyspnea. Although valve fluoroscopy was normal, subsequent 3D echocardiography and ECG ‐gated multiphase computed tomography confirmed the presence of PVT that was subsequently treated successfully with surgical replacement. Our case demonstrates the utility of multimodality imaging in establishing PVT in patients with abnormal prosthetic valve physiology and progressive symptoms.