A phonocardiographic study of patients with multiple Starr-Edwards prosthetic valves.

Abstract

In recent years physicians have been presented with new auscultatory syndromes due to the in- creasing use of prosthetic heart valves. It is the purpose of this paper to describe phonocardiograms of patients who have multiple ball valve prostheses of the type described by Starr and Edwards (1961) and Starr et al. (1963). The sharp sounds produced by the opening and closing of these valves allow timing of several physiological events in the cardiac cycle. In addition, analysis of these recordings in patients with atrial fibrillation shows the deleterious effect of fast heart rate on prosthetic valve function.