mechanical valve comparison

[Jason]

Hey everyone,

I was surfing the internet on my blackberry while between the echo, chest x-ray, and ekg today. I stumbled across a webpage that reported normal mean and max pressure gradients for different mechanical valves, and the results seemed interesting. I made a mental note to find it tonight on a real computer, but I now can't find it at all. Have any of you found this resource? It was written for echo techs, from the look of it, and gave them normal values to look at. It seemed that all mechanical valves were higher in gradient than I would have thought, but then I don't know what my expectations would have been based upon. Thanks!

 

[Jason]

I found it, thanks to a post by Jennifer on normal Echo values. On a separate page was the one I was looking for:

http://www.echopedia.org/wiki/Normal_measurements_of_aortic_valve_protheses#bibkey_Perrino

I thought this was an interesting comparison, and thought I would share.

 

[bdryer]

My Px gradient was measured pre and post surgery under anesthetic. I had severe AS with my AV reduced to .5 cm sq. Pre surgery the Px gradient was 45-56 mm Hg. After the 23 mm On-X was implanted the Px gradient dropped to a jaw staggering 4-6 mm Hg!!!!!!!

 

[Jason]

Wow, are those both max pressure gradient or mean? In any case, it looks like your ON-X is doing even better than the reported data, which is wonderful! I still need to request the paperwork from my most recent echo, which I haven't seen yet. Thanks for the reminder! I THINK my valve is the Sorin Bicarbon, as opposed to the Carbomedics bileaflet in the study. However, I am still waiting for the 'real' ID card from Sorin/Carbomedics. The first one they sent me had the wrong physician for the surgeon, as well as the wrong customer service number (an italian number instead of Colorado) and no model number.

 

[Eva]

Thanks, Jason, for the link. I will look for my echos and compare.