1) I find the ad misleading and offensive (as do others, according to the discussion above), and it's souring me on the mechanical-valve company that I used to hold in the very highest esteem, and whose product I would have recommended to a friend until I saw that ad. If On-x isn't monitoring the discussion here, I think Hank or somebody with their best interests of On-X at heart should do them the favor of telling them that they may be losing more than they're gaining.
2) I have no trouble scrolling past the big banner, and I find it a much less painful way to support this site than (say) to fast-forward through TV commercials with my TiVo, to help the TV networks pay for their programming.
3) Some valves (or valve implantations) fail before 10 years -- including some On-X valve implantations. Others, generally the vast majority regardless of valve type, last much longer than 10 years, though the life expectancy of a tissue valve is a strong and direct (positive-sign) function of the patient's age.
4) The ad implies (to me) that (a) the only thing that matters to a patient's longer-term clinical outcome is how long the valve itself lasts, and (b) the On-X valve is uniquely capable of producing good and reliable longer-term clinical outcomes. I believe both of those impllcations are somewhere between false and misleading, and that's why I have lost respect for On-X since seeing that ad. The ad is also aimed straight at vulnerable and often distraught patients who are facing valve-replacement surgery, trying to cope with their ACTUAL choices based on REAL information, in the context of their hopes and dreams and fears and personal preferences. To take an analogy: If a manufacturer of stainless-steel coffins ran ads at the recently bereaved -- like big billboards in a funeral home? -- saying "Shouldn't your loved one's coffin keep out groundwater for longer than 15 years?" I think most of us would find that offensive. But ironically, the FACTUAL message -- express and implied -- in the coffin ad is clearly true beyond the shadow of a doubt, while the truth of On-X's implication depends on a very narrow and selective interpretation of the word "truth".
4) It would clearly be better if the biggest and most prominent message on (say) the "Choosing a Valve" page here were NOT misleading and designed to induce false fear for financial gain. But it is. Maybe On-X has a selection of banner ads available, and can be persuaded to choose another, either in its own enlightened self-interest, or in the interests of cutting this (On-X-unfriendly) discussion short, or in the interests of doing Hank a favor. For this critical reader/viewer, there's no harm done, but I bet that's not true of everybody.
