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Given that the physicians in the UK are employees of the NHS I truly doubt their medical advice is based on any thought of saving money for the NHS. This goes sort of into conspiracy theories. The high INR could have been associated with the antibiotics. Different drugs are metabolized...

Hopefully being on warfarin will not be a major issue for your son. It hasn't been for me having been using it for about 40 years starting at age 34. I had a tissue aortic valve at age 29 that failed in 5 years. However I have avoided a few things that exceeded my comfort level. I don't...

It is hard to know what the cardiologist truly meant. He may have been sort of joking that you are not the typical patient that he sees. I hope he didn't mean he was out of his depth. A lot depends on the degree of "heart failure" that is determined. There are a variety of parameters to...

I have been on multiple bike trips all over the world without any issues with warfarin. Photo safaris to Patagonia, Tanzania and Botswana no issues. Have my trusty CoagCheck with me. So basically I don't really think much about it. I wear a dog tag that has my medical history on it so if...

No issues with warfarin for a diagnostic TEE. "Twilight" anesthesia since having a tube stuck down your esophagus is not fun awake. Basically no big deal. I have had a bunch over the years.

People come to think that medicine is like engineering. I have many engineers as patients and they often are the most concerned with minor details in their care thinking that we have everything down to a perfect science. Sometimes in reviewing these forums I get the same impression that there...

I have been on warfarin for 39 years. The first 25 with mediocre INR management. I have downhill skied all over the US and in Europe. I have been on about 20 bicycle trips all over the world and I just returned from Botswana from a photo safari. Only once can I recall issues with bleeding. I...

Most of us on anticoagulants know that they don’t “thin“ the blood. But when I ask patients if they are taking anticoagulants they often look at me with puzzled expressions. So I say blood thinners and they know right away what I am talking about. If anti coagulation pertains to their issues...

I have had two St.Jude aortic valves starting in 1983 after a failed tissue valve. The second St Jude was placed in 2006 along with a repair of an ascending aortic aneurysm. So 39 years on warfarin. Lots of skiing, bike trips, years of basketball no major issues. I go for an INR of around 3...

I assume that when you said you had a TIA that you had some neurological event which was transient and you recovered. To me that is much more significant than the 4.6 cm aorta. The enlarged aorta should have little to do with having a TIA. As mentioned by others it needs to be watched but...

We know that Eliquis is not good for mechanical valves. In the drug trials primarily run by the drug companies Eliquis was shown to be as good or better than warfarin in A. Fib in terms of embolic phenomenon and bleeding. These trials compared Eliquis to warfarin for basically all comers. You...

I am not an electrophysiologist but my understanding is that the electrical signals in A. Fib travel across the atrial tissue and not via nerve tissue. The pathway for the normal activation of the heart from the SA node to the AV node and to the right and left ventricles is specialized tissue...

Eliquis is not effective for anti coagulation of mechanical valves currently only warfarin is. So if one needs anti coagulation say for A. Fib then Eliquis is fine. No contraindication with tissue valves. If you are already taking warfarin for a mechanical valve and get A Fib you are already...

The clip is transfemoral. Not much different than a cath from the patient’s perspective. I had mine done by a guy who at that time had done more than anyone else in the US. He had put some in relatively heathy youngish patients. I was 68 and facing a fourth open heart that nobody wanted to...

Personally if two procedures one via the groin and the other via bypass had similar outcomes, and both would need an open heart approach if either failed, I would go for the one through the groin then the other requiring an open heart approach. One open heart to me is better than two. If the...

That was certainly true earlier. I believe that the indications have been expanded. You should check with interventional cardiologists who actually do the procedure. It is not easy and there is a learning curve. It beats open heart surgery from the patient’s perspective. Some of the mitral...

For mitral regurgitation there are a variety of options. Repair, replacement (tissue, mechanical) and soon a TAVR like replacement. There is also another option that you haven’t mentioned. The mitral clip. This is placed through the groin via ultrasound and fluoroscopy. If down the road it...

Probably the most important point in having medical insurance aside from the insurance paying the bill is the fact that the insurance company has a contract with the medical providers that sets the costs of the various procedures. So not having insurance aside from not having the costs covered...

Odd story. I don’t think that is routine standard of care s/p aneurysm repair. Maybe there is something odd that was seen in the past that warranted close scrutiny. You should ask. Otherwise I agree that the irradiation exposure and the contrast would be nice to avoid. I had an aneurysm...

In general when one comes out after heart surgery you are taken to an intensive care unit. Generally there is a very high ratio of nurses to patients. Probably one to two or so. When you are intubated you are not left on your own for an extended period and hopefully the intubation will be...