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We prospectively followed a cohort of 64 patients bearing an aortic or mitral prosthetic valve (mean follow-up 5.2 +/- 3.2 months) in order to evaluate if color-coded two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography (CFD) could provide some major advantages with respect to pulsed (PW) and continuous wave (CW) Doppler in the diagnostic accuracy of detection of intra-, and paraprosthetic leaks. During follow-up 4 cases of pathologic prosthetic regurgitation ensued and were all correctly and easily identified by CFD while one of them was missed both by PW and CW Doppler. Based on our results we conclude that CFD is the best noninvasive tool actually available for the correct identification of prosthetic valvular regurgitation because it can provide useful accessory information difficult to obtain with other echocardiographic techniques.

The obstruction of the left ventricular tract outflow following mitral valve surgery, as a late complication, is rarely reported in the literature. The case of a 47-yr-old woman, who, after mitral valve surgery, developed dynamic left ventricular tract outflow obstruction four years later is reported. This alteration was detected by 2D echo-Doppler. The echocardiographic findings were: 1) Normal function of the mitral prosthesis. 2) An equal pressure-gradient of 44 mmHg at rest and of 75 mmHg after amyl nitrite at three examined levels: below, above and at the level of the aortic valve. 3) A hyper-echo image in the peri-annular region, probably representing fibrous degeneration around the valve ring, which was the likely cause of the obstruction. Th data were confirmed by cardiac catheterization. The echocardiographic technique appears to be a useful tool to detect and study this complication of mitral valve surgery.