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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2006;6:S50-S53
© 2006 Elsevier Science NL

The first step to understanding valve failure: an overview of pathology

^a Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass., USA
^b Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., USA

The most frequent valve-related complications are thromboembolic problems (including anticoagulant-related hemorrhage), infective endocarditis, paravalvular leak, intrinsic degradative dysfunction, and extrinsic interference with function, including tissue overgrowth. Tissue overgrowth, endocarditis, and paravalvular leak are largely prosthesis-independent. Thrombosis, the major cause of mechanical valve dysfunction, is infrequent with bioprostheses; in contrast, the overwhelming cause of bioprosthetic valve failure is primary tissue degeneration.

Key Words: Cardiac valve failure • Mechanical valve dysfunction • Bioprosthetic valve dysfunction • Thromboembolism • Primary tissue degeneration