ABSTRACT
Heart valve replacement represents one of the most significant advances in medicine in the modern era-saving lives and improving the quality of life among patients with congenital or acquired valvular heart disease. Its wide acceptance is evidenced by the 2.5 million procedures performed worldwide since 1960 and upward of 90,000 surgeries performed yearly (1). Despite the important contribution that surgical heart valve replacement has made over the past half-century, an existing propensity for localized thrombus formation and systemic thromboembolic events, including fatal and disabling ischemic stroke, remains both an inherent limiting feature and major concern for surgeons, clinicians, and patients alike. The following overview highlights surgical prosthetic heart valve replacement and the complex subject of thrombogenicity, with emphasis on development, device technology, design, and contributing thrombophilic conditions.
