This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Francesco Siclari Permission Requests Google Scholar Articles by Frigg, C. Articles by Mauri, R. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Frigg, C. Articles by Mauri, R. Related Collections Anesthesia Cardiac - physiology Congestive Heart Failure Valve disease

Unusual complication after aortic valve replacement

^a Department of Cardiac Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, Cardiocentro Ticino, Via Tesserete 48, CH-6900 Lugano, Switzerland
^b Department of Cardiac Surgery, Cardiocentro Ticino, Switzerland

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +41 91 805 31 83; fax: +41 91 805 31 81.

E-mail address: c.frigg{at}freesurf.ch (C. Frigg).

We present a report of a postoperative left ventricular-right atrial (LV-RA) communication after aortic valve replacement. Such intracardiac defects are rare but encountered occasionally after valve surgery. The diagnosis was made by use of transesophageal echocardiography with echo-Doppler and color-flow imaging. Complications of LV-RA shunts and differential diagnosis are discussed.

Key Words: Cardiac surgery; Valve replacement; Left ventricular-right atrial communication; Perioperative echocardiography