Left ventricular apical puncture: a procedure surviving well into the new millennium

We report two patients with a history of prior mitral valve and aortic valve replacement with St. Jude prosthetic valves, who were referred for repeat valve replacement after noninvasive assessment was suggestive of prosthetic valve malfunction. Both patients were managed medically after evaluation with direct left ventricular apical puncture revealed normal hemodynamics in the first and mild aortic stenosis in the second patient. These two cases illustrate that, despite the advancements in the noninvasive evaluation of prosthetic heart valves, left ventricular direct puncture continues to have an important value in the evaluation of patients referred for repeat valve replacement, and it can prevent unnecessary surgeries associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 49:68-73, 2000.