Genetic link suggested in heart valve deaths

[LUVMyBirman]

Just reading HeartCenter and found this of interest. Not something we want to dwell on....but this question has been asked before. "Can I pass it on"?

Genetic link suggested in heart valve deaths

Nov 04 (HeartCenterOnline) - Researchers studying the huge Utah Population Database have uncovered a striking familial link in deaths due to mitral valve and aortic valve disease. This strongly suggests a genetic component behind these heart valve diseases.
Until recently, it was suspected that heart valve disease clustered in families, but no study had shown a definitive trend that heart valve disease ran in families.

According to results of the study, first-degree relatives of patients who died from non-rheumatic mitral valve disease were more than 2.5 times more likely to die of mitral valve disease themselves. Second-degree relatives were also 70 percent more likely to die of mitral valve disease, despite sharing only half as much genetic material.

This correlation is actually stronger than the correlation for breast cancer and prostate cancer. Major genes have already been discovered for each of these cancers, leading researchers to speculate that a gene may someday be uncovered for mitral valve and aortic valve disease.

The next step for researchers is to analyze the DNA code from people who suffer from heart valve abnormalities to locate aberrations that may be responsible for their disease. This might lead to better diagnostic and treatment tools. Study authors, however, caution that their results so far only apply to Caucasians because no other ethnic group is represented in the Utah Population Database.

The study is unique party because of its scope. The Utah Population Database, compiled by the Church of the Latter Day Saints, has meticulous birth, death and genealogy records on millions of families going back for more than 100 years.

The study was published in the recent edition of Circulation. The lead author was Benjamin Horne, a Ph.D candidate in genetic epidemiology at the University of Utah.

Copyright 2000-2004 HeartCenterOnline, Inc.

 

[ericaj]

genetics

genetics

Hi Gina,

Funny that you should post these tonight. In the past I have had Genetics evals as well as seen many other Drs. to try and figure out why I have hte Heart probs and the many other "weird" abnormalities I have .. 1 including the sever CTS that I had repaired 2 years back (i am only 21 now) but nothing really ever became of linking everything together. Well now my Cardio and the Pulm. who I just seen last Thurs. are sening me for another Genetics evaluation to try and get some answers .. as there are several newer things since I seen the Gen. specialist several years back. .. to name just a few .. abnormal chest wall shape, tachyarrythmias, difficulty sleeping, SOB, cold hands, swelling, and other things. .. and this is a new Gen center so they are hoping to get an underlying unifying dx. thinking something like a Collagen Vasc. Disease .. Anyways my pt. is they too are looking at the whole over all picture for both treatment and future family. ..

Sorry to yack on so long though,

Erica

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Hi Erica,

Thank you for posting your story. We can only hope it will help someone down the line When I was DX...we did not know of anyone in the family with MVP. Go to find out, it comes down my fathers side of the family as he himself has 3+ reguirg. Thankfully..his has held out of 70+ years.

Feel the fact that I am a female and had the stress of giving birth....more damage. If I were a male, maybe I would not be looking at surgery given the history?

We beleive my younger sister has it as well. So far she has refused testing.

 

[Karlynn]

Thank you so much for the information Gina. This is just what I need as I try to convince my son's doctor that she needs to rule out a valve cause for his SOB. She already ruled it out saying he was a male and he has a normal EKG. Apparently a pretty significant family Hx didn't impress her.

 

[bvdr]

Karlyn, I meant to reply on your thread when I read of the absense of a murmur. 8-9 months before I had my mitral valve replaced the cardiologist who saw me on my 2nd trip to the ER wrote that he felt my atrial fib was most likely not related to any structual heart damage since no murmur was detected. Later, after the "structual damage" was detected, the murmur was in fact heard. Within the next several months it did intensify and on the date of my next echo, several distinct sounds had appeared. My point is: Even a cardiologist can miss a quiet murmur as some murmurs require special positioning to bring the heart close enough to the chest wall to pick up subtle changes. For the mitral valve this means having the patient laying almost on the left side and rather pushed away from the table. Many doctors don't take the time to position correctly.

Gina, that is a very interesting article.

 

[Bart]

Delurking here: My DH and 8 yr old DS both have bicuspid aortic valves so from our standpoint we believe there has to be a genetic link. DH had his valve replaced last year at 46. DS's murmur was heard when he was about 15 mo. old by the pediatrician who actually listened long enough for the first time - there was a ped resident following him that day so he listened more closely than usual.

We don't use the same ped any more. When we see a different ped than usual or at the doc in a box (usually sports injuries) I usually let them listen first and then tell them what the murmur is from.

Megan

 

[sam]

family valve problems

family valve problems

Myself- Coarctation Of The Aorta, Biscuspid Aortic Valve
My Daughter- Coarctation Of The Aorta, Bicuspid Aortic Valve
My Daughter's Twin sister- MVP
My Brother- Biscuspid Aortic Valve, repaired age 45
My sister -MVP
Brother Question of PQT
Sisters Childern - her son MVP, her Daughter -MVP and repair for rapid heart beat
Brother with BAV children both have some mild form of CHD but not sure what .
Different Brothers daughter having Cath to determine what her Heart troubles might be.
I dont know if this is any link but my Mom had RH Factor

 

[Sherry]

Thanks for the interesting article, Gina. My paternal uncle had a repair a year before my replacement. My paternal grandmother had a fatal stroke back in the early eighties. My uncle believes she had an undiagnosed valve problem. I really feel there's some validity in this.