Chances of sons also having BAV

[lopearredlady]

Question:
Is it accurate that BAVs are passed from mothers to sons-my sons are 20 and 23? Did I also read something about nieces?
Thanks, Terry

 

[Ross]

Their does seem to be a hereditary link. I'd certainly have her checked just to be sure.

 

[Mary]

BAVD runs in families and is more common in men than women.
I had a aortic bicuspid valve, and one of my sons has one too.

 

[Marguerite53]

Hi Terry. From what I understand of it, the general population has a small chance of having BAV. Sometimes it can be inherited. Some physicians (my surgeon for one) do not think that it is necessarily heritable. But, it can be. My cardiologist does not think heritability is statistically significant either.

I currently have 2 sons enrolled in a university hospital study which provides them with a free echocardiogram. The research cardiologist is trying to discern whether BAVs are inherited. I do not know how many families he has involved in his study, or how long his study is going on. It is a major medical hospital and I should think this cardiologist wouldn't propose a study that was already proven. I've spoken with him, and with a cardiologist at Duke Medical Center (a study had closed and I called and this man was gracious enough to talk to me for a good half hour) and he thought we were getting much closer to understanding things. I honestly do not think there has been enough research yet to determine yes or no. Echos are getting so much more sophisticated, and the machines are far more prevalent now. More and more people are being echoed.

I have a thread going (and there are many other thread on heritablitly here) in Heart Talk called Are There Perfect Hearts? We are discussing these things.

I don't know how old your children are. Mine are young adults and I do not wish for the insurance companies to get wind of a benign defect at this point, so I am truly trying to just have them looked at to be sure there is nothing critical, or nothing questionable emerging. Generally speaking, most doctors will not do an echo unless they hear a murmur. I had a birth defect! That was definite -- the surgeon looked at my removed valve (I told him pre-surgery that I wanted to know). A murmur was never detected in me until I was in my late 20's! Well, I wasn't really in any danger until I was in my 50's and the stenosis went to work. So, for me, a little look-see is enough for now.

Other families are having NO trouble getting their pediatricians or cardiologists to give the children an echo. Or some just take a little pushing, but they cave. It's hard to know what knowledge, training, ethics are guiding the medical community.....it certainly isn't consistent!!

So ask your medical professionals. Read through our threads. Use us as a "statistically viable" community of valve patients and either push on to get an echo for your child, or try to find some other means (like a local university research study). The only reason I've gotten 2 boys into that study was the comment from someone here (Karen someone) about her husband being asked to participate and with her help I followed up on it. I paid cash for my daughter's echo eek: $$ ) because she was going off to college to play sports and I just couldn't rest, not knowing.

Good luck. Come back with questions.

Marguerite

 

[Susan BAV]

If I understand correctly, there can be degrees of BAV disease also, degrees of intensity (although there is probably a more accurate and/or more proper description of it). Some BAV patients have COA and there are also degrees of intensity in that condition. Some BAV patients may have degrees of intensity in connective tissue disorder issues also. I apologize if I'm not describing this all "correctly."

So, even if one of your sons ends up being diagnosed with BAV, he may hopefully not have it to the degree that you do and he may never need surgery for it; so there's always that hope. Of course, the antibiotics we Valvers all take before dental cleanings, and other situations that could allow bacteria into our bloodstreams, would be necessary for your sons, should they have valve issues.

I think I know where you are coming from and I certainly have empathy for your concern. My sons are 23 and 24 and I am relieved that neither, evidently, has BAV, nor evidently does anyone else in my fairly large extended family. There have been other aortic valve and mitral valve issues, however, in my extended family.

One happy thing about BAV is that we tend to have really clean arteries .

 

[Mary]

This is from our own Reference Sources, http://www.valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11603supplied by PJmomrunner back in May, 2005.
The thread is titled Bicuspid and Tissue Reference Links.
I'm quoting the first paragraph:

The population frequency of a bicuspid aortic valve is [almost equal to]0.9% to
1.36%,1-3 with a 2:1 male:female ratio. It is likely that the presence of a
bicuspid aortic valve has a genetic basis, with the pattern of transmission in
some families suggesting an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance.4,5
Epidemiological data from the Baltimore-Washington Infant Study demonstrated the
familial clustering of left heart obstructive lesions (including coarctation of
the aorta, aortic valve stenosis, and hypoplastic left heart syndrome).6 More
recently, the increased risk of identifying a bicuspid aortic valve in the
parent or sibling of the proband with any form of left heart obstructive lesion
was described.7 By inference, this also suggests the potential identification of
a congenitally malformed aortic valve in the presence a family member with a
more complex congenital heart lesion. In addition, a bicuspid aortic valve is
present in >50% of patients with aortic coarctation 8 and in 10% to 12% of women
with Turner syndrome.9 The specific genetic locus and protein abnormality in
patients with a bicuspid aortic valve have not yet been identified, however.

 

[aussigal]

I couldnt get my 3 sons echoed soon enough when I found out BAV was heritable. It turns out 2 of them have a BAV and the middle son has a mild case of mitral valve prolapse @ 13.The boys are all being monitored and are on no restrictions as yet.