Does the sound of the "click" made by mechanical valves have any correlation to inr

[weissarthur]

Does the sound of the "click" made by mechanical valves have any correlation to inr

there are times when I clearly hear my mechanical valves "clicking",,, and so do other people across the room, LOL... then there are other times where i dont hear it ... and neither do other people... Does coagulation, or how thick your blood is, cause the valves to click louder?

Does the sound of the "click" made by mechanical valves have any correlation to inr either high or low?

 

[pellicle]

Not that I've ever observed. I have noticed a correlation to blood pressure though

 

[tom in MO]

Coagulation has nothing to do with the thickness or viscosity of your blood. Calling warfarin a blood thinner is a misnomer. My valve is louder in some siturations, usually the room has good acustics and I am wearing a thin shirt or no under shirt.

 

[dick0236]

There is no correlation between warfarin and valve sound.....more likely due to body accoustics(sp?). Mine was noticeable to me and others in the beginning but even I can't hear it now.

 

[John & Joann]

There is absolutely no relation to the warfarin and sound. The old Starr-Edwards could be heard 30 ft. away. We had a dog that played hide/seek with Joann by listening for the clicking sound. The new mechanical valves are very quiet. It may take a few months for the scar tissue to form. This will reduce the sound some. You will never think about the sound after a few months.

 

[dpalz]

Coagulation has nothing to do with the thickness or viscosity of your blood. Calling warfarin a blood thinner is a misnomer. My valve is louder in some siturations, usually the room has good acustics and I am wearing a thin shirt or no under shirt.

Well said by Tom. Cardiologist has commented in a positive way when the crisp ticking sound is made, but I only notice a more pronounced tick when I take a deep breath.

 

[weissarthur]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Thanks Tom. I can see that Coagulation has nothing to do with thickness rather the ability to coagulate. However, I see nothing to convince me that inr levels dont correlate to sound. I take a warfarin because of mechanical heart valve... without it I have a real problem... so why not correlate it with valve sound. Thin shirts is not a reasonable argument... i hear a sound internally.. sometimes its louder sometimes i don't hear it at all. Body acoustics don't explain the variability in the sound since body acoustics are unlikely to change on a daily basis. I really like Pellicie's argument about blood pressure... it fits really well. thanks I'd still like to hear a compelling argument as to why warfain/inr would not correlate to valve sound.

 

[pellicle]

Id still like to hear a compelling argument as to why warfain/inr would not correlate to valve sound.

Well from a physics sstandpoint with no change in the fluid dynamics of the blood, no change in air spaces, no change in viscosity what would be e physical basis for it to conduct sound differently?

With higher blood pressure the the vascular walls are more likely to transfer the sound. Put some water in a balloon without much pressure: tap it.

Repeat with theballoon and water under more pressure and tap the balloon again

 

[Protimenow]

I'm approaching 23 years with my St. Jude Valve, and it seems as if the clicking got softer over the years. I don't think the clicking - when it WAS loud - had anything to do with my INR, although for a while I wasn't testing my INR very frequently. I wasn't able to play hide and seek with my daughter, because she was able to hear me standing behind a door (or other places). I don't think that's an issue with my valve any longer.

(FWIW -- if you wear a cheap mechanical watch, you can make people worry that you're having arrhythmias; if you go to meetings or speeches, you may find people especially sensitive to the frequency of your heart clicking. I was at a press conference and saw a person in front of me becoming visibly annoyed. I don't know if opening my mouth and pointing my head in his direction amplified or directed the sound to his ears, but after a few minutes of this, he turned around and shouted 'who's wearing the cheap watch?' Yes - there are games you CAN play when your ticker clicks.)

 

[weissarthur]

Protime... that's just funny!

 

[Mileena46]

I too believe the sound and my INR readings are related. If I hear a "louder" clicking I will get a lower number than if I get a "softer" clicking.

 

[Protimenow]

Years ago, I didn't realize how important regular testing was. I was lucky that my very infrequent testing didn't bite me in the butt--with a stroke or hemorrhage. I believed that I could 'feel' when my INR was out of range. I'm not sure, at this point, what, exactly, I felt that told me what my INR was, but it may have had something to do with the clicking of my valve.

At this point, I'm not sure that the loudness of the click has ANYTHING to do with my INR. Now that meters are readily available - and often rather affordably or under insurance -- it makes a lot more sense to test the INR than to listen for changes in the volume of the click.

It might be interesting if someone could actually take some kind of audio device (something that senses audio volume, or perhaps some type of audio recorder) and do a simultaneous blood test. (I've been recording details of all my blood tests for the past 5+ years, but don't really have the equipment to record or measure factors related to click or heartbeat). If there actually IS come correlation, it would be nice to find out and actually document it.