Use of a Melody Pulmonary Valve in Transcatheter Valve-in-Valve Replacement for Tricuspid Valve Bioprosthesis Degeneration

Bioprosthetic heart valves can degenerate and fail over time. Repeat surgery as a means of replacement increases morbidity and mortality rates, and some patients are not candidates for reoperation. A newer treatment, percutaneous transcatheter valve-in-valve implantation, might delay or substitute for invasive procedures. We present the case of a 51-year-old woman, a poor candidate for surgery who had prosthetic tricuspid valve degeneration and stenosis. We successfully performed valve-in-valve placement of a Melody (R) valve, using a procedure originally intended to treat pulmonary valve conduit obstruction or regurgitation. To our knowledge, this is among the first case reports to describe the use of the Melody pulmonary valve in transcatheter valve-in-valve replacement for prosthetic tricuspid stenosis that was otherwise not correctable. Additional data and longer follow-up periods are necessary to gain an understanding of ideal indications and selection of patients for the percutaneous transcatheter treatment of tricuspid valve stenosis.