Method for radiological recognition of cardiac valve prostheses. Analysis of the various models used at the Cardiosurgery Center of the University of Padua

A rapid identification of the type of prosthetic heart valve from the plain chest roentgenogram is often of extreme importance in the care of patients who have undergone prosthetic valve replacement. In the present report we have analyzed the radiographic appearances of 9 different models of mechanical and biological prostheses which are or have been employed at our Institution since 1969, with the aim of providing simple guidelines to identify these devices. For this purpose photographs were taken of the postero-anterior and left lateral chest radiograms of patients in whom these particular prostheses were implanted. Once the silhouettes of the radioopaque components of these devices have become familiar, the differentiation of the types and the recognition of the site of implantation is easy and rapid.