What is the echo appearance of the Carbomedics Prosthetic Heart Valve?
There are four pivot washing jets; one for each of the four pivots. The jets are most easily seen in the mitral valve. Using transesophageal echocardiography allows one to see how the appearance of the jets varies when viewed from different angles (A). When the pivots are on either side of the display screen, the jets converge over the center of the valve. When the valve is viewed across the pivots with the pivots in the center of the screen, two jets can be seen diverging (B). The pivot jets are narrow at their origins, but up to one centimeter in width distally and up to four centimeters in length. A. B.
