[Acute Leaflet Arrest in St. Jude Medical Regent Mechanical Aortic Valve;Report of a Case].

A 61-year-old woman was diagnosed with combined valvular disease and atrial fibrillation, and was admitted for surgery. We performed double valve replacement, tricuspid annuloplasty and maze operation. At the operation, a 19 mm St. Jude Medical Regent valve was implanted with non-everting mattress sutures at the aortic supra-annular position after mitral valve replacement. Although pulling down of the prosthesis into the aortic annulus was easy, the leaflets were unable to open at all in a movability test. After removing several stitches on the mitral side of the hinges, the subvalvular tissue was seen bulging into the hinge, hindering the free movement. The prosthesis was removed and replaced with a 17 mm Regent valve by the same technique. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful. We suggest it is necessary to pay special attention to the structural characteristics of the prosthesis.