Bileaflet mechanical valve dysfunction related to fibrous pannus: The role of cine-fluoroscopy

We report the case of a 72-year-old female patient admitted for worsening heart failure. The patient had undergone aortic valve replacement with a mechanical prosthesis 28 years before and since then she had several acute heart failure episodes, with a progressive increase in transprosthetic gradients, without identifying a specific cause. We describe the diagnostic tools used to reach a diagnosis, with particular emphasis on the use of cine-fluoroscopy that allowed to make the decisively diagnosis of prosthetic valve dysfunction, subsequently confirmed by cardiac computed tomography (CT). By cine-fluoroscopy, a widespread, easy, low-cost, and safe tool (no need for medium contrast and low radiation dose), it is possible to precisely define the function of the valve leaflets and measure their opening and closing angles, comparing them to the specific reference angles. To make the correct diagnosis we also performed a cardiac CT demonstrating a sub-aortic fibrous pannus. However, although cardiac CT is highly accurate for the identification of valve leaflet neoformations and abnormalities and for the discrimination between thrombotic formations and fibrous pannus, it is burdened by high costs, use of contrast medium, and limited available dedicated devices.