Thank you everyone for your reply.
Dr. Valente does not think that I am a candidate for the PVR via cath because she thinks that I need my tricuspid valve worked on again also. I am curious how much benefit I would get from just replacing the pulmonary valve in the cath lab and leaving everything else alone. The right ventricle is already so dilated that I do not expect to feel much better after surgery. My goal would be to slow down the progression of right ventricle failure.
My local cardio is the best the state has to offer. What is so frustrating is that if you look at the clinic notes from the past 10 years, you can't tell what changes have taken place. If things have progressed very slowly then I would think that I could wait longer for my PVR. There is just no way to tell. He has only done 1 partial MRI in the past 10 years. He has never done any exercise tolerance testing. My last cath was 9 years ago. His reasoning for waiting is that he does not know if doing anything would help and that he could certainly make things worse. My concern is that if we wait to long than nothing will help. I have to have a local cardio in case I end up in the ER. My local cardio has the most experience of anyone in the state.
I have looked at ACHA's clinic list many times.
Debbie
