OK, away I go in a few hours. I made my choice - mechanical - about 20 minutes before I talked to Dr. Miller. He said he would tailor the surgery so reop would be easiest if I went with bio but strongly recommended mech, which I had already decided.
I read dozens of papers on valve choice versus age, etc. All the studies involved all-comers, so a large share of patients had co-morbidity which significantly shortened their lives..CAD, HTN, renal disease, diabetes, lung disease. There really isn't a good analysis for patients like me, but one examination of a lot of trials factored out the variables and argued that age alone is not a deciding factor. The co-morbidity is. With long life expectancy, regardless of age, mechanical is probably a better choice over all.
I read dozens of papers on valve choice versus age, etc. All the studies involved all-comers, so a large share of patients had co-morbidity which significantly shortened their lives..CAD, HTN, renal disease, diabetes, lung disease. There really isn't a good analysis for patients like me, but one examination of a lot of trials factored out the variables and argued that age alone is not a deciding factor. The co-morbidity is. With long life expectancy, regardless of age, mechanical is probably a better choice over all.
