aorta replacement

[roundsgirl]

Hey gang, I've got a question. I am being told by my cardio. to think about whether I'd rather go to Duke, or Emory to see about having my aorta replaced. I've never even heard of this. What is the surgery called. I know I should have asked my doc all of this, but I was really floored at the time. If ya'll remember I have a PPM, mismatch. Anyway he said his goal is for me to go to one of these hospitals, because no one in our area can do the surgery, wants to resolve the digestive issues, bleeding, so that they can replace my aorta with a larger one and replace the bovine valve with a mechanical valve. on my last echo the av area was .087 cm and my pressure gradients are high also. If u know anything about these hospitals I'd appreciate input on that as well. Thanks gang.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

From what I hear, THE AORTA Surgeon in the SE USA is Dr. Chen at Emory.
Several of our members have used his services.
You can find their comments by doing a Search on VR for keyword "Chen".
Be sure to scroll down to the bottom box and select "Any Date" from the drop down menu.

And YES, surgery of the Aorta is another step up the ladder of complexity in Heart Surgery.
Experience Counts and Dr. Chen is the one whose name comes up among members from the SE.

'Al Capshaw'

 

[roundsgirl]

Thank u sooooo much Al. I will check this doctor out.

 

[Lynlw]

Hi, Its good to hear from you again, but sorry you will need another surgery so soon, but I remember you've been having problems pretty much since your surgery.. I think you have to ask a few more questions, about what they want to do, what parts of your Aorta they want to replace, (ascending, arch, descending ect) to see if others have had the same surgery.
Does your insurance play any part in where you can go?

 

[roundsgirl]

Hey Lyn, yes you are right it's been pretty rough since the surgery. I really don't know which part of the aorta, but the picture scetched out for me, looked like the ascending, isn't that the part the aortic valve is attached to? As far as insurance I am on Medicare, since I am now on total disability. Not really sure, but I hope it doesn't come down to a insurance issue. Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

 

[njean]

Glad to see you posting again & I'm keeping you in my prayers.

I too remember that you have had so many problems and pray that you find resolution soon so that you can go on with your life in better health!

Stay strong!

 

[Lynlw]

Hey Lyn, yes you are right it's been pretty rough since the surgery. I really don't know which part of the aorta, but the picture scetched out for me, looked like the ascending, isn't that the part the aortic valve is attached to? As far as insurance I am on Medicare, since I am now on total disability. Not really sure, but I hope it doesn't come down to a insurance issue. Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

Yes, that would be the aortic root and ascending. Quite a few people here have had that. Often they say they need a valve and graft, if that helps. or some have a bentall if this helps a litttle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentall_procedure

I'm glad to hear you got your disability, it stinks that you need it (I'm disabled with my back) but I'm glad you were approved, I remeberred when you were trying to get it. I have my husbands insurance, so can't help with what that would mean as far as having surgery.

 

[Cherie']

Hey Lisa,
This is what I had done 2 months ago. Dr. Tomas Martin at UF in Gainesville did my surgery. I highly recommend him. I was told by one of the valve companies that he is one of the best if not the best in the SE for aorta surgerys. I had the aorta, arch, aortic root, and valve repalced. It is a pretty complicated surgery. I really did not realize how much until after I had it done. My surgery was just under 10 hours. I wont go into many details as I don't want to stress you. It is important taht whoever you choose that they do 100's of this type of surgery every year.

 

[roundsgirl]

Thanks for all the responses. I will be doing research on all of this. It's so good to hear from all of you. I had quit posting as I just felt hopeless, thinking if this is as good as it's gonna get, well you know what I mean. It's been ups and downs since my surgery. Cherie' my back also played a part in my disability so I sympathized with you on that also. Thanks again everyone.

 

[kfay]

Lisa, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry to hear that you are still having problems. I hate to hear that you are going to have to have surgery again, but I'm hopeful that it will finally "fix" things and you'll be on the road to recovery finally. Please don't ever feel so hopeless that you quit posting. We will always be here for you.


Kim

 

[Maryka]

Sorry for the scary news BUT I have known several people who have had their entire aorta replaced. I am a bit confused. Are they talking of doing your whole aorta in one operation? Several years ago I had heard from surgeons at a conference that they usually do the whole aorta in two separate operations. Usually (at that point, anyway) they did the ascending aorta first. Then, at a later point when the first operation healed, they would do the descending aorta.

My friend Carol had her whole aorta replaced in two surgeries. The reason she had to have the whole thing replaced was because she had no idea that she had an aneurysm (nor did her doctors) but had a surprise aortic dissection when she was playing tennis. They replaced the ascending part first, then, a couple of years later did the descending aorta. Dissections are tricky because the main dissection is the most dangerous, but, rather like a run in pantyhose, leaves a "run" (or weakness between the tissues of the aorta) that runs down the aorta. (A good reason not to let a known aneurysm go to dissection--besides death, of course--is that the surgery may need to be done over two separate times.) It is my understanding that the descending aorta replacement is tricky because important blood vessels come off of it and can do damage to things like your kidneys and/or your lower spine. A reason they used to use for splitting the aortic surgery into two parts is that to do both at once might put the patient on the heart-lung machine "too long". Perhaps that problem has been solved in recent years, but I have not heard anything about that.

Lots of people survive for decades--lifetimes--after having their whole aorta replaced. Prayers go out to you from me!