Huge Left Atrial Thrombus and Valve Degeneration in a Patient with a Bioprosthetic, Porcine, Mitral Valve

Abstract

A 43 year old man with a Hancock porcine bioprosthetic valve in the mitral position developed a huge thombus filling the entire left atrium and chronic degeneration of the bioprosthetic mitral valve. The effective valve orifice was less than 2 mm. These severe findings leading to the patient's death remained undetected while he was alive. This case illustrates the great need for a serial phonoechocardiographic studies in all patients with prosthetic valves.