Anyone had surgery on an irradiated heart?

AnnaK · Sep 6, 2016

Hello all, I'm new here. I had left sided breast cancer treatment, including 7 weeks of radiation, 6 years ago. Now my mitral valve needs repair or replacement. I've been reading about the complications of open heart surgery on radiated hearts- anyone had personal experience with this ? Thanks...

carolinemc · Sep 10, 2016

I have not had this experience with this. Perhaps a talk with your doctor could help. Ask questions to the cardio doctor or surgeon. Never be afraid of asking questions. OPH is serious business when mentioned. Be proactive in your heart and overall health. Ask the questions and dare to doctors to answers. Just hang in there and you will get answers here from experienced heart people. And be sure to talk to your doctor and surgeon and ask questions. Hugs for today.

AnnaK · Sep 10, 2016

Thanks for your kind reply Caroline. I saw my cardiologist yesterday & surgery is not in my immediate future. I will be tested again in 6 months & go from there- I'm not symptomatic & my heart muscle is not damaged. I've talked with my oncologist & cardiologist about the past radiation thing- people who have had chest radiation heal slowly, their bones are compromised. This forum is so interesting & helpful, I appreciate your response!

TJ318 · Sep 11, 2016

Hi Anna,

I too am new here but I can share with you my recent experience with this.

My mom just underwent a triple valve replacement and triple bypass. The doctors have said that all of the damage was due to her previous radiation treatment for cancer.

Just keep in mind that everyone is different and unique circumstances apply to each and everyone. In my mom's case, the surgery was scheduled to be 4-6 hours. It ended up being nearly 9 hours. There were some complications due to the calcification of the heart walls and being able to sew in the new valves. She spent two weeks in ICU and another in the cardiac rehab floor. She is now at home with the care of a nurse and three great children.

She had one of the best surgeons in California for complex cases such as irradiated hearts. However, she is still left with some complications. She had to have a pacemaker placed due to the injury during surgery to the heart. She was left with a paralysed vocal cord and bilateral extremity swelling. She is unable to walk more than a few steps at a time without being rendered completely exhausted.

Prior to surgery she was a vibrant active individual. It seems like such an unfair set of circumstances to be dealt but the thing is that even with all of the setbacks, she will recover. It's just going to take a tremendous amount of time.

It sounds like (and I'm hoping) that your set of circumstances doesn't seem to be as complex. It's good to get as much information as possible and to know different scenarios. We were completely sidelined by all of these things.

If you need to talk or have any other questions please feel free to reach out to me. Wishing you all the best and a positive outcome for you.

AnnaK · Sep 11, 2016

Thanks for your reply & hope all goes well for your mom. My heart goes out to her! From what I've read it sounds like her experience is fairly typical in chest radiation patients - lots of complications that they don't see beforehand. And after the surgery healing is slow. Invasive surgery is not really advised for people like us, but there isn't yet a procedure like the TAVR( for aortic valves) for the mitral valve.

Did your mom have her incision through the sternum or the ( supposedly less invasive) smaller incision on her right side?
From things I've read, recovery, even for those with no complications, can be very long & hard. Your mom has really been dealt a blow, I wish her all the best. Please let her know a fellow cancer survivor is rooting for her. I so much appreciate your reply & I would love to hear how things go for your mom, please keep us updated...

ejc61 · Sep 16, 2016

Hello Anna, have you given any thought to having a right side mini-thoratocomy procedure which is less invasive than the open sternum? That's pretty common these days in the absence of other issues. Or maybe even robotic. The mitral valve seem to have more options as far as technique goes.

AnnaK · Sep 16, 2016

Yes, ejc, that's a possibility they mentioned if I don't need to have anything else done - like bypass. Is that what you had? How did it go? There's even a small possibility that I could qualify for a mitra clip, that seems doubtful, but it would be nice!

dornole · Sep 18, 2016

Assuming you have mitral regurgitation . . . if you have mitral stenosis you might be a candidate for a valvuloplasty (balloon procedure) which would be ideal - no surgery.