Paravalvular Leak: A Systemic Review

Abstract

Background: Paravalvular Leak (PVL) refers to the retrograde flow of blood in the space between an implanted cardiac valve and native tissue. These are unfortunately but luckily relatively uncommon complications of prosthetic valve replacement that, especially when moderate or severe, have important clinical consequences.

Objective: Addressing PVL requires a multidisciplinary team to properly diagnose this process and choose the corrective option most likely to result in success.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was undertaken to formulate this narrative review.

Results: This review highlights the complex nature of PVL and the promising contemporary treatments available.

Conclusion: Clinicians should be adept at recognizing PVL and characterizing it using multimodality imaging. Using the many available tools and a multidisciplinary approach should lead to favorable outcomes in patients with PVL.

Keywords: Paravalvular leak; interventional cardiology; surgical aortic valve replacement; surgical mitral valve replacement; transcatheter aortic valve replacement; transcatheter mitral valve replacement.