Acute thrombotic obstruction with disc valve prostheses: diagnostic considerations and fibrinolytic treatment

Twenty-six patients presenting with 28 instances of massive acute thrombotic obstruction of a prosthetic valve (16 mitral, 12 aortic) were treated with fibrinolytic agents. In 15 cases the patient presented with acute pulmonary edema and low cardiac output, in 10 with congestive heart failure and embolism and in 3 with peripheral embolism only. The diagnosis of thrombotic obstruction was made by echocardiography or cineradiography, in patients in whom the disc was immobile or barely moving; cineangiography was necessary in only four patients. The fibrinolytic agents administered were streptokinase, 2,000,000 U for 10 hours (14 cases), urokinase, 4,500 U/kg per h for 12 hours (7 cases), or the two agents successively (7 cases). Fibrinolysis was entirely successful in 19 patients: 18 are alive and well without surgical intervention after follow-up of 6 to 64 months and 1 patient had surgical revision after fibrinolysis. In two patients, fibrinolytic treatment was apparently successful but obstruction recurred 4 and 19 months later, respectively, and the patients were again treated by fibrinolysis. In two patients complete failure of fibrinolytic treatment led to emergency surgery, and in three patients improvement was incomplete and death occurred shortly after treatment. No hemorrhagic complications were observed, but there were five cases of embolism during the fibrinolytic treatment. Fibrinolytic treatment would seem to be an attractive, nonsurgical alternative for the thrombosis of a valve prosthesis but, because of the risk of embolism with possible permanent damage, its use should be reserved for critically ill patients who are too sick to undergo immediate surgery.