A portion of a cardiac valve may become an embolus.
Usually the fragment is a portion of a prosthetic valve but a portion of a native valve rarely could become detached.
Occurrence:
(1) during transcatheter placement of a prosthetic valve
(2) during open heart surgery
(3) structural fracture of a prosthetic valve
(4) valve damage from endocarditis
The lodgement of the embolus depends on which side of the heart the valve is on. A right-sided valve would go towards the lungs. A left-sided one could go towards the brain, an upper extremity, the kidneys or iliac arteries.
The use of a device to capture embolic fragments can reduce the risk.
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