Echocardiograms post surgery

[Paleowoman]

How often do others have echocardiograms following tissue aortic valve replacement ? So far, in just under a year and a half since surgery, I seem to be having them six monthly, but am wondering whether they will be annual soon or what ?

 

[Jkm7]

I have mitral valve, which we rarely talk about here, and have echo once a year. After surgery, I might have had a few 6 months apart but not for a long time now.

 

[MrsBray]

I think I had one at 3 months, one at 6 months, and now am every 12 months.

 

[Paleowoman]

Thanks for your replies !

 

[epstns]

Once we got past the initial "warranty" period, I've been scheduled for annual echo's. I have a consultation with my cardio twice per year, with an echo immediately preceding the office visit on one of the times. In fact, my next echo is a week form today (memo to self - Do Not Forget. . . ).

 

[scott.eitman]

With my Homograft, it was about every 12-15 months. Every 6 months seems very frequent. Are you being monitored for something specific?

 

[Paleowoman]

I don't think I'm being monitored for anything specific, no. I'll ask the cardiologist next time I see him in July. Not that I mind having echos - at least I can keep tabs on things, but I was curious to know if others have a similar echo pattern.

 

[Duffey]

I had echos every 6 months for the first two years post-replacement; however they've been run at one year intervals since then, and at October's last appointment, the cardiologist decided to extend the time to two years. I was surprised since I'm at the 10 year mark with my bovine replacement valve, but I reported feeling good, and she heard nothing out of the ordinary when she did the exam.

 

[T in YVR]

I had my first echo 3 weeks post op, and since then I have been getting them every 6 months since my AVR surgery on Oct. 1 2013. However, my frequency is due to (a) an enlarged left ventricle that we are monitoring to see if it is going down and (b) trying to lower the dosage or ideally get me off of Coversyl and Metoprolol (which are being taken because of the enlarged left ventricle). So, we reduced my drugs early this year and I go back for an echo in July to see if there is any change - for the better or worse. Originally I was at 65mm pre surgery, then 66 mm immediately post op, then 62 a bit later and at the start of this year I was at 57mm. They think that may be as low as it goes (was at 18 months post op), but TBD (57mm is at the high end of the normal range). My EF was 60% but has since dropped to 55%, so they are monitoring that as well (Metoprolol and Coversyl can improve your EF, so with the drug dosage drop, we want to see if it impacts it. Eventually my echos will go to an annual basis.
Tony

 

[Paleowoman]

Well that's interesting T. The echo technician always reports on my echos that I have mild left ventricular hypertrophy but my cardiologist says the technician is not correct in his interpretation. I never had any hypertrophy pre surgery, in fact my heart was coping fine apart from the obvious bicuspid aortic valve which was stenotic, even my EF was 79% pre surgery. Perhaps my cardiologist is playing 'safe' ?

 

[Bina]

If all is good, then the time between echoes seems to spread further apart. I had an echo 2 weeks ago and it was 20 months since my last one.
I'm 9 1/2 yrs post op.

 

[river-wear]

My cardiologist only did one 4 months post-op because I nudged him into it. (Me: "aren't you curious how it looks?") I won't see him again until I'm 16 months post-op.

The day after tomorrow is my one year anniversary! (Already. Yet it seems like a lifetime ago.)