GAS BUBBLE EMBOLI DETECTED BY TRANSCRANIAL DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY IN PATIENTS WITH PROSTHETIC HEART-VALVES - A PRELIMINARY-REPORT

After observing spikes in the Doppler signal of cerebral arteries of patients with neurologic symptoms and prosthetic heart valves, we then studied two groups of patients with prosthetic heart valves: seven patients with neurologic symptoms and 65 asymptomatic patients. Using transcranial Doppler sonography of the middle cerebral artery, we found Doppler spikes in six symptomatic and 24 asymptomatic patients with mechanical heart valves. No spikes were found in one symptomatic and 21 asymptomatic patients with biological valves or in 20 asymptomatic patients with mechanical valves. We concluded that gas cavitation during the opening or closure of the valve, producing bubble emboli, is the most probable explanation for these Doppler spikes in patients with mechanical prosthetic heart valves.