Surgical treatment of left-sided mechanical valve thrombosis: Twelve years’ experience DOI: https://doi.org/10.36811/jcshd.2022.110028 JCSHD: April-2022: Page No: 68-74 Page: 68 www.raftpubs.com Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery and Heart Diseases Research Article Open Access Surgical treatment of left-sided mechanical valve thrombosis: Twelve years’ experience Sami Bouchenafa * , Ahmed Zaki Boukli Hacene, Boukri Hamouda and Mohammed Atbi Cardiac Surgery Department, EHU Oran, Algeria *Corresponding Author: Sami Bouchenafa, Cardiac Surgery Department, EHU Oran, Algeria, Tel: +213555485074; Email: dr.bouchenafa@gmail.com; sami_bouchenafa@hotmail.fr Received Date: Mar 31, 2022 / Accepted Date: Apr 19, 2022/ Published Date: Apr 26, 2022 Abstract Background: Mechanical valve thrombosis (MVT) is a severe complication of heart valve replacement. In this study we presented our surgical experience for left-sided MVTs. Methods: From October 2010 through January 2022, 1418 operations of mechanical valve replacement in 1252 patients. 59 patients were operated for left-sided MVT. Preoperative, operative and postoperative data were collected. Results: In this study 48 (81%) of patients were women, the mean age was 46.7±13.2 years. Mitral valve was thrombosed in 51 patients (86%) and aortic valve in 8 patients (14%). The most frequent clinical presentation was dyspnea III-IV (58%). The time interval between first valve replacement and MVT was 58.6 ± 38.4 months. INR was less than 2 in 37 patients (63%) patients. All patients underwent a surgical procedure; thrombectomy in 21 patients (36%), valve replacement in 38 patients (64%). Early mortality was (12%). Conclusion: MVT is a serious complication of valve replacement. Early diagnosis and early surgery gives excellent outcomes. The best means of prevention is effective anticoagulation. Keywords: Mechanical Valve; Thrombosis; Cardiac Surgery; Thrombectomy; Valve Replacement Cite this article as: Sami Bouchenafa, Ahmed Zaki Boukli Hacene, Boukri Hamouda, et al. 2022. Surgical treatment of left-sided mechanical valve thrombosis: Twelve years’ experience. J Cardiovasc Surg Heart Dis. 4: 68-74. Copyright: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright © 2022; Sami Bouchenafa Introduction Mechanical valves have long term durability, but some complications may occur. MVT is caused by a thrombus attached to a mechanical valve interfering with it function. Endmunds defined MTV as a complication attributable to any type of thrombus, without evidence of infection, attached around a mechanical valve, deranging hemodynamics, or interfering with valvular function [1]. The incidence of thrombosis ranges from 0.5% to 6% in the aortic and mitral positions [2,3]. The annual rate of prosthetic valve thrombosis with mechanical valve ranges from 0.1% to 5.7% [4]. Diagnosis can be made with variable clinical presentations related with the degree of valvular obstruction. Physical examination is frequently insufficient, and diagnosis of valve thrombosis is established by fluoroscopy, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) [5,6].