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Radiological appearance of prosthetic valves

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Apart from homografts, all valves are radiopaque:

  • the radiopaque components in prosthetic valves allows the the identification of the type of valve and the direction of flow:
    • caged valves and heterografts - flow is from the base ring to the struts
    • disc valves - direction of flow is indicated if the disc is seen in an open position on chest X-ray

Strut fracture and bioprosthesis calcification can be seen on a chest film.

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