Phonocardiographic findings in patients with normally functioning Ionescu-Shiley prostheses

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Medical Acoustics

Background:

• The Ionescu-Shiley valve is a widely used bovine pericardial prosthesis.
• Noninvasive acoustic evaluation of prosthetic heart valves is crucial for assessing function.
• Understanding the specific phonocardiographic signatures of functioning prostheses is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize the phonocardiographic findings in patients with normally functioning Ionescu-Shiley prostheses.
• To establish reference acoustic patterns for mitral and aortic Ionescu-Shiley valves.
• To provide a basis for noninvasive assessment of these prosthetic devices.

Main Methods:

• Phonocardiography was performed on 19 patients with normally functioning Ionescu-Shiley prostheses.
• Patients had prostheses in either the mitral or aortic position.
• Acoustic events such as clicks and murmurs were recorded and analyzed.

Main Results:

• Opening clicks were consistently detected in mitral prostheses (mean A2 to opening click interval: 94 ms).
• Systolic ejection murmurs were present in all aortic prostheses.
• Opening clicks (mean Q wave to opening click interval: 125 ms) and closing clicks were observed in aortic prostheses; no diastolic murmurs were noted.

Conclusions:

• Phonocardiography can identify characteristic acoustic events in normally functioning Ionescu-Shiley prostheses.
• These findings provide a reference for the noninvasive evaluation of mitral and aortic bovine pericardial prostheses.
• The study establishes acoustic benchmarks for assessing the integrity of these prosthetic valves.