FUNCTIONAL MITRAL-STENOSIS RESULTING FROM A LARGE MITRAL-VALVE PROSTHESIS VEGETATION

Obstruction of a prosthetic valve by an infective vegetation is a rare and life-threatening complication of endocarditis that demands emerge nt surgical intervention, In our patient's case, transthoracic echocar diography showed the large vegetation, transthoracic Doppler imaging s howed severe obstruction of diastolic flow through the bioprosthetic v alve, and transesophageal echocardiography showed that no perivalvular abscess was present, Rapid diagnosis of prosthetic valve infection an d obstruction demanded application of all three major echocardiographi c modalities and proved critical to the patient's recovery.