Has anyone had the bentall procedure and been through

[coryp]

Deep hypothermic cardiac arrest to repair the Aortic Root?

Your feed back is welcome and appreciated. My surgeons cannot tell if the root is involved and said that they will not know if it is until they open me up. 50-50 now.

thx

 

[Mary]

I went on a search looking for Bentall , and lo and behold, our beloved Granbonny underwent it. It's in one of her posts to Arlyss. I bet Granbonny will answer your request in the morning.

 

[T-Money]

Bentall Here

Bentall Here

Hi.
I had one not too long ago (April 15, 2005) minus the deep hypothermic cardiac arrest. My understanding is that the hypothermic business is an alternative to bypassing via the heart/lung machine. For what it is worth, my surgery lasted about 2 hours and used the traditional bypass machines. With the Bentall, instead of just giving you a replacement aortic valve, they remove a section of your aorta that is experiencing an aneurism. The section of the aorta is replaced by a 'cloth' (in my case it was Dacron) tube. My surgeon decided to do a Bentall the day before my surgery because my aortic aneurism was close to the diameter that calls for surgery. He dropped this on me when I met him for the first time in person in cardiac ICU. He said we should just go ahead and replace it to avoid risking a future surgery. I chose to go with a St. Jude Mechanical Valve vs. poricne or bovine. However, I don't think you are limited to a mechanical. He expected me to have a full recovery and did not cite any real differences between the Bentall and valve replacement only. They do this to avoid a potential aortic dissection, which can be fatal. If I am correct, John Ritter died not too long ago from an undiagnosed aortic aneurism that led to dissection. I have done great with mine. I think the only difference between someone with just the replacement valve vs. the cloth tube/replacement valve is that when I take a deep breath I can feel the tube resonating off my sternum. The cardio said that this was completely normal. I am 5 weeks out of surgery and walk 3-5 miles per day + a variety of other exercises. I was instructed to keep my INR within the 3-3.5 range which I think is similar to aortic valve replacement only folks (they may get a 2.5-3.5 range, but who's counting??? haha). Anyway,I can assure you that it is nothing to get upset over. I was told that it would make no difference and would ensure that I avoid future aneurisms in that area. Hang in there.

 

[coryp]

Hi.
I had one not too long ago (April 15, 2005) minus the deep hypothermic cardiac arrest. My understanding is that the hypothermic business is an alternative to bypassing via the heart/lung machine. For what it is worth, my surgery lasted about 2 hours and used the traditional bypass machines. With the Bentall, instead of just giving you a replacement aortic valve, they remove a section of your aorta that is experiencing an aneurism. The section of the aorta is replaced by a 'cloth' (in my case it was Dacron) tube. My surgeon decided to do a Bentall the day before my surgery because my aortic aneurism was close to the diameter that calls for surgery. He dropped this on me when I met him for the first time in person in cardiac ICU. He said we should just go ahead and replace it to avoid risking a future surgery. I chose to go with a St. Jude Mechanical Valve vs. poricne or bovine. However, I don't think you are limited to a mechanical. He expected me to have a full recovery and did not cite any real differences between the Bentall and valve replacement only. They do this to avoid a potential aortic dissection, which can be fatal. If I am correct, John Ritter died not too long ago from an undiagnosed aortic aneurism that led to dissection. I have done great with mine. I think the only difference between someone with just the replacement valve vs. the cloth tube/replacement valve is that when I take a deep breath I can feel the tube resonating off my sternum. The cardio said that this was completely normal. I am 5 weeks out of surgery and walk 3-5 miles per day + a variety of other exercises. I was instructed to keep my INR within the 3-3.5 range which I think is similar to aortic valve replacement only folks (they may get a 2.5-3.5 range, but who's counting??? haha). Anyway,I can assure you that it is nothing to get upset over. I was told that it would make no difference and would ensure that I avoid future aneurisms in that area. Hang in there.

Thank you for your detailed response. Did you have any protrusion in the Arch? or ws it just the Ascending Aortic? I am concerned that the ARCH is involved, thus the reason for the Deep hypothermic part (I think?). Does the tube bother you when it resonates? Can you hear the valve at night when you are sleeping? 3-5 MILES a day os much more than I do now, biggest thing for me is that I have been relaively symtom free my whole life. Other than the mild chest discomfort which caused me to investigate and lead to me finding the Aneurysm, I am not out of breath or tired ever. I am kind of hyper to say the least! That is why I am having such a hard time accepting this. It also seems like the more I get to understand this issue, my options seem to be the most difficult. My case keeps getting worse and worse.

 

[T-Money]

More Info.

More Info.

Hi.
I just had the ascending aortic aneursm, no arch issues. From what I have read, the hypothermic business is a new technique that allows the surgeon to do the work without putting you on bypass. Getting put on the bypass machine is probably the most dangerous part, so I think that the hypothermic approach allows them to do the surgery without fully stopping your heart and lungs. Others on this site probably know more than I do and should feel free to correct me. The tube does not bother me, but I do hear the clicking. Because it is inside of you, I think you can hear it anytime you want to concentrate on it. Otherwise, it begins to fade into the background noise of life. I went with the mechanical valve instead of the tissue because the surgeon felt that my odds of a second surgery would be smaller with a mechanical. I'm 32, so minimizing future heart surgery is my priority. I was alot like you in that I felt pretty good and did not notice any symptoms. However, when I think back over the past 5 years I noticed that I used an increasing amount of caffine over the time period and also exercised less and less. For me, it was so gradual that my body made adjustments before I could really notice a problem. Finally, I'm a guy and guys tend to be less likely to observe and address symptoms. I was a fairly hyper person before and I feel great now. My best advice would be to find a surgeon who does this procedure on a regular basis and a hospital that does a large number of heart surgeries per year. If you are unsure about the stats., look at US News and World Report online and get the stats for the top hospitals for heart surgery. You can then compare these to where you are at and get an idea of what their volume is. I chose my surgeon based in good part on the sheer number of surgeries that the guy does and, like I said, I never met the guy in person until the day before surgery. My surgeon did 5 heart surgeries the day I had mine and I was one of 3 valve replacements. My surgery lasted 2 hours instead of the 4:30 that I was quoted when I first found out about the problem. My best advice is to spend your time lining up the best surgeon you can get (don't just automatically use the person they name when you got your diagnosis). I would also encourage you to get it done as soon as you can. Having this surgery hanging over your head for too long can really wear on you. Don't hesitate to email me if you have any more questions. Also, I'm sure the rest of the crew will be chiming in here shortly and you'll get more advice and experience.

 

[skimomck]

Our son who just has valve surgery two weeks ago (aortic and pulmonary) and had the Bentall procedure. They actually never mentioned it to us but it was in the post surgical report they gave us on discharge. He had previously had his ascending aorta replaced with dacron due to an aneurysm when he had his Ross procedure 4 years ago. This time he had an aneurysm of the aortic root and had two St.Jude valves placed.

 

[Superbob]

Another Bentall's Customer

Another Bentall's Customer

I had Bentall's Procedure a little more than three months ago, and was on the heart-lung machine with no ill effects. Surgery took five hours. I understand it can take twice as long as that. My surgeon is a master of this procedure. I have a stentless prothesis that replaces both the value and the root, and I am very happy with it.

Best wishes to you,

Bob

 

[Granbonny]

My Procedure

My Procedure

Reading from my Operative Procedure....AVR/Root/Bentall with 23 mm St.Jude valved conduit,Hemiarch replacement using deep hypothermia and circulatory arrest, Retrograde cerebral perfusion.......This was a piece of paper..with my name, date of surgery, surgeon..and a drawing at bottom..that I have no idea what it is..He had penciled in a little writing showing what he did.....I think that Nancy explained a few things when I posted this..years ago.......I figured they just froze me Now, my daughter did tell me that the Surgeon told my family I was only on heart/lung machine for 22 minutes..But, many members questioned that... ..so, I just forgot about it until now... Remember, I just went in with a 5 aneurysm..that was found 3 days before on a heart Cath... and Surgeon told family..he didn't like operating after that size....(OR making me wait)....Family knew we had lost my age 50 year old B/I/L years before when his dissected..Lived 24 hours after trying to repair it. I had a perfect recovery..Home in 5 days, ect....but..still had pumpheadness ( Or that could have been my age 61) Those words are scary..but here I sit, 3 years and 2 months later..doing great. Bonnie

 

[Granbonny]

P.s.

P.s.

I had no symptoms either..just when my Mama died 5 months before did I start noticing..odd things. thought it was stress from her sudden death. PCP just started running tests on me for stress, ect..and referred me to a Cardio..He found it. (The aneurysm)..My Cardio was in Atlanta but has since moved to Gainesville, Ga. (and doing all Caths in our new Heart wing) Has a large practice there with many new Cardios..He stills sees me every 6 months..but, no new patients..just following up on all his oldies.