Background—: Prosthetic valve thrombosis during pregnancy is life-threatening for mother and fetus, and the treatment of this complication is unclear. Cardiac surgery in pregnancy is associated with very high maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. Thrombolytic therapy has rarely been used in these patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of low-dose (25 mg), slow infusion (6 hours) of tissue-type plasminogen activator for the treatment of prosthetic valve thrombosis in pregnant women. Methods and Results—: Between 2004 and 2012, tissue-type plasminogen activator was administered to 24 consecutive women in 25 pregnancies with 28 prosthetic valve thrombosis episodes (obstructive, n=15; nonobstructive, n=13). Mean age of the patients was 29±6 years. Thrombolytic therapy sessions were performed under transesophageal echocardiography guidance. The mean dose of tissue-type plasminogen activator used was 48.7±29.5 mg (range, 25–100mg). All episodes resulted in complete thrombus lysis after thrombolytic therapy. One patient had placental hemorrhage with preterm live birth at the 30th week, and 1 patient had minor bleeding. Conclusions—: Low-dose, slow infusion of tissue-type plasminogen activator with repeated doses as needed is an effective therapy with an excellent thrombolytic success rate for the treatment of prosthetic valve thrombosis in pregnant women. This protocol also seems to be safer than cardiac surgery or any alternative medical strategies published to date. Thrombolytic therapy should be considered first-line therapy in pregnant patients with prosthetic valve thrombosis.

Introduction: Prosthetic heart valve thrombosis is a life-threatening complication after valve replacement surgery. Although subtherapeutic anticoagulation is the main cause, there are many other conventional and esoteric predisposing factors. Areas covered: The etiopathogenesis, diagnosis and management of prosthetic heart valve thrombosis with particular focus on conventional and esoteric predisposing factors, diagnosis with multimodality imaging and current therapeutic approaches were covered. Expert opinion: Subtherapeutic anticoagulation remains the key driving force for development of prosthetic valve thrombosis. However, cardiologists should be cognizant of other frequent or rare conventional and esoteric causes. The diagnosis is now more straightforward with the use of multimodality imaging. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography with or without real-time three-dimensional imaging are the current gold standard modalities. Multidetector computed tomography is now a major complementary tool. The favorable clinical outcomes with recently introduced slow or ultra-slow infusions of alteplase, as compared to relatively poor surgical results, has rendered thrombolytic therapy the first-line treatment option in most eligible patients with prosthetic valve thrombosis. Surgical treatment could be reserved in whom thrombolytic therapy is contraindicated, or has already failed. The efficacy and safety of thrombolytic therapy as compared to surgery should be confirmed with large observational cohorts, and ideally randomized trials.

Prosthetic heart valve obstruction (PHVO) caused by pannus formation is an uncommon but serious complication. Although two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (2D-TEE) is the method of choice in the evaluation of PHVO, visualization of pannus is almost impossible with 2D-TEE. While demonstrating the precise aetiology of PHVO is essential for guiding the therapy, either thrombolysis for valve thrombosis or surgery for pannus formation, more sophisticated imaging techniques are needed in patients with suspected pannus formation. We present real-time 3D-TEE imaging in a patient with mechanical mitral PHVO, clearly demonstrating pannus overgrowth.

The study aimed to assess the performance of the On-X valve (Medical Carbon Research Institute, Austin, TX). Between December 2000 and January 2003 O

A 56-year-old woman with a history of mechanical mitral valve replacement 9 years earlier, presented with signs of severe valve obstruction assessed by echocardiography (Fig. 1(A) and (B) , video 1). Multidetector computerised tomography clearly depicted pannus overgrowth as the cause of obstruction (Figs. 1(C), (D) and 2(A), (B)). She underwent re-replacement and the pannus was confirmed surgically (Fig. 2(C) and (D) ).