Interv Akut Kardiol. 2011;10(4):176-181

Thrombembolic and bleeding complications in heart valve prosthesis holders

Jaroslav Dušek¹, Miroslav Brtko², Josef Šťásek¹, Josef Bis¹, Jan Vojáček¹, Pavel Polanský², Dušan Černohorský³

¹ I. interní klinika, Fakultní nemocnice Hradec Králové, Univerzita Karlova Praha, Lékařská fakulta Hradec Králové

² Kardiochirurgická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice Hradec Králové,

Univerzita Karlova Praha, Lékařská fakulta Hradec Králové

³ Gerontometabolická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice Hradec Králové,

Univerzita Karlova Praha, Lékařská fakulta Hradec Králové

Many complications may occur in patients with heart valve replacement. The thrombembolic and bleeding complications are the

most considerable. Choosing between the mechanic and biological valve prosthesis is very important due to many reasons. In case

of mechanical valve prosthesis we can expect life long good function of the prosthesis at the expense of higher thrombembolic and

bleeding complications. The incidence of mechanical valve prosthesis thrombosis is in the range 0.2–1.8 %/patient/year. The treatment

depends on patient´s condition and presence of valve prosthesis obstruction. Reoperation, thrombolysis or anticoagulation therapy is

considered. The bleeding complications are related to the need of life long anticoagulation therapy for patients with mechanical valve

prosthesis. Its frequency is related to the intensity and stability of the anticoagulation therapy, to many factors on the patient´s site and

drug interactions of the warfarin.

Keywords: valve disease, thrombembolic complication, bleeding complication

Published: July 1, 2011  Show citation