Mechanical heart valve leads to rare complication
Heart-valve replacement patients presenting with neurological symptoms are at risk, say case report authors
7th August 2019
Part of a mechanical heart valve travelled to a patient’s brain creating a metallic embolus — a rare complication, but one doctors need to consider, according to the man’s US physicians.
In the case, the 46-year-old patient had a history of rheumatic heart disease, and underwent mitral and aortic valve replacement with a mechanical and supra-annular valve, respectively.
Seven months after discharge, he reported back to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque complaining of dizziness, the doctors wrote in BMJ Case Reports.
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