Evaluation of prosthetic valve thrombosis by 64-row multi-detector computed tomography.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT), combined with retrospective electrocardiographic gating, permits cardiac imaging with high accuracy. Recent advances in MDCT have seemed to respond adequately to the need for a non-invasive and reliable assessment of the coronary artery lumen.

METHODS

Two patients with prosthetic aortic valves (one bioprosthetic, one mechanical) presented at the authors' institution with dyspnea and syncopal episodes. MDCT was performed to evaluate thrombus characteristics and exclude coronary artery disease (CAD).

RESULTS

Based on the MDCT coronary artery assessment, neither patient underwent preoperative invasive coronary angiography, abolishing the risk of any iatrogenic thrombus fragmentation and subsequent embolization. One patient underwent surgical treatment without complications, while medical therapy was successful in the other case.

CONCLUSION

MDCT can be used for the accurate imaging of thrombi on prosthetic aortic valves, and to correctly assess possible CAD.