help me decide

[tim893]

hello i am from Ga and i recently had a cardio tell mei had a dialated aorta and need to have a ahv . i had a M R I of my heart and i did. my results said my aorta is not signifigantly dialated the area is at around 3 cm the asending aorta is a 3.5 it says i do have right and left fused leaflets so i have prominent regurgitation the sinus of the valsalva is apears mildly prominent at a 4.5 the coronary artery origins apear normal.
this is what the impression says functionally bicuspid aortic valve, as discussed above, with some evidence of aortic reguritation and dialation of the left ventricle. the valve does not apear to be significantly stenotic.
i have an irregular heartbeat and have had for years. i have wondered if i have the avr done will the heartbeat still have the irregularities it has? and how hard is it to get use to the ticking of the valve? and my dr said that if i had the avr that it would last forever and i should never have to have repeat surery. and that it wouldnt shorten my lifespan. is that true? i am sure that most of the vetrans on here can answer alot of this and tell me about as much as a dr. any info would be helpful and appreciated. i have never posted before so i dont know if i did this right but if anyone can make anything out of my post i'll be happy. thanks Tim

 

[hall]

Hi Tim and welcome. I also had an irregular heart beat for years. It was not until my ablation that it was corrected. I have a tissue valve so I can not answer your question. Someone will though. There is a wealth of information on this forum. I will look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Eva]

Hi Tim,

I like to welcome you tothis forum and wish you get answers to all your questions. In my personal case, I had palpitations on and off and I had to wear a 'event monitot' so my cardio could determine how serious the palpitations were so that the surgeon would do a 'maze' procedure during surgery to stop the palpitations or not. Luckily, in my case, they were not serious enough for a maze procedure and they were gone after my surgery. I have some premature ventricular contractions once in a while which are benign.

As for the ticking of mechanical valves, I hardly hear my valves! I have to make an effort to hear it, and even then it is a very faint soft ticking confirming I am alive!!

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Matski]

Welcome Tim,

About your questions.

Irregular heart beat. Heh, I dont think I ever had a normal one.

Will you hear the click? Maybe when its really quiet, but for the most part like Eva said you have to pay attention to hear it. I know I do but then again i've had a mechanical valve for more than 30 years now.

Lifespan? I've been good for 30 years and there are a few others here that have been kickin around a bit longer than that if i remember correctly.

Oh and Tim...your post was fine.

 

[TXWildflower]

Welcome to the forum, but I am a novice and that's all I can contribute compared to these guys. So instead I'll just post a hello!!

Rhena

 

[harleysandguitars]

Hi, Tim. I just had my AVR in April, with a mechanical valve. I can honestly tell you that, already, I have to really try to hear any clicking. And if the room isn't quiet, I can't hear it even if I try.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Welcome Aboard Tim !

It would help to know what part of Georgia you are in and your Age.

You need to know that Surgery of the Aorta is / can be Quite Complex and requires skills above and beyond what most ByPass and occasional Valve Job Surgeons possess. For complex surgeries, I recommend going to a Major Heart Hospital because both the Surgeons and the Nursing Staff have a Lot More Experience dealing with those less common ailments and possible 'bumps in the road to recovery'.

From what I hear, the Best (or one of the Best) Surgeons of the Aorta in the SE is Dr. Chen at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. If there are others, I am not aware of them.

If you are below age 50 - 60, you may want to give serious consideration to a Mechanical Valve to avoid having to have a repeat surgery in 10 to 20 years since tissue valves tend to eventually wear out, some sooner than others.

Most of us are not bothered by the occasional Ticking we sometimes hear from our mechanical valves. Ticking can be a result of body accoustics, pounding heart beat (usually goes away after the heart 'remodels'), and environment (hard walls such as tile bathrooms etc).

If you have read my posts in the Valve Selection Forum, you know that I am impressed with the technological advances offered by the On-X Valves. See www.heartvalvechoice.com and www.onxvalves.com for details on those valves. Note that Emory Hospital is the sponsoring facility for the NO / Low Anti-Coagulation Study using On-X valves and (most? / all?) of their surgeons are familiar with those valves. Some of the Surgeons at Peachtree Cardiovascular in Atlanta also use On-X. I'm not sure who their Aorta Specialist is, assuming they have one.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[terryj]

My husband is the one who had the AVR on 09/11/01 at Emory. He got the ATS mechanical valve. He will be 60 this year and works as a Electro Mechanic. He has a Harley and does all the things anyone else would do and probably more. The ticking is there but it is a comfort at this point. The only time we hear it is when it is really quiet.
If you don't mind me asking who is your cardio?

 

[hensylee]

Welcome to the forum, but I am a novice and that's all I can contribute compared to these guys. So instead I'll just post a hello!!

Rhena

I am not even a novice, but have been a member since 2000, and I can't contribute either. I stumbled into VR while looking to find out what had happened to me (I had quad bypass and didn't have a clue that it had nothing to do with valves!). The Board let me stay anyhow.

Just want to welcome you to VR. Consider yourself in good company with a buncha folks who have been through it, have lots and lots of info to share and will be with you all the way there and after. Blessins.........

 

[tim893]

all i can say is wow i didnt really think id get so many responces so soon . but as i was read thru the posts i saw so much support from the people on this site and all i can say is all you guys and ladies are really great and i thank all of you. i,m 44 and my cardio is dr hernandez i saw a dr pereira and he did ekg and stress test and i wore a monitor for 30 days and he didnt find anything . that was in 2007 and i went to dr herdanadez in july 2009 and they said that something was wrong and she did an ultrasound of my heart and said i had a dialted aorta and then scheduled me for ultrasound on my coroted arteries and then the mri of my heart. and then i had the cath last wensday and all my arteries and pressures looked normal and they even gave me a cd of my cath i though it looked like nothing was blocked or even slightly blocked. thanks to all Tim

 

[dick0236]

Welcome Tim, you will find a wealth of information and support on this forum.
1. I periodically have short periods of irregular heart beat with no problem. Can't remember if I had the problem prior to surgery.
2. I have not heard my valve in many years.....nor have others heard it. At least no one has every mentioned it.
3. At the time of my surgery, life expectancy was 73 and I turned 73 about six months ago...'nuff said.....although, at the time, I really thought they were "blowing smoke" to encourage me.
4. If corrected before "real" damage is done, a valve replacement should have little, if any, impact on your life....although that may be difficult to accept...at the moment.
5. If you get a mechanical valve and at the current state of the science, you will be on Warfarin for your lifetime. This should cause no problem IFyou follow a few simple rules....take the medication as prescribed and test routinely.
6. With the benefit of hindsite, I am certainly glad I had the surgery...as it has nearly doubled my life expectancy......so far.

 

[AgilityDog]

I'd also be concerned with the reported dilation of the left ventricle. That's frequently a trigger for doing surgery as it shows decreased function/damage to heart muscle. That may very well correct itself after surgery ('remodel'). But don't delay too much on the surgery. A couple months, sure, to find the right doctor and valve, but not a year. OK?
And you can have regurge/insufficiency (meaning valve doesn't close properly) without being stenotic (means valve doesn't move/doesn't open properly).

 

[DavesMom]

Hi Tim,

Welcome to the forum! Just wanted to say that I've had my mechanical aortic valve for over ten years and I've never heard it clicking once. My surgeon said it should last the rest of my life. So if you're younger (I was 42 when I had my AVR) I would suggest a mechanical. Coumadin hasn't been a big deal for me at all.

Best of luck and again, welcome!

Cheers,
Michelle

 

[COLLEEN S]

Welcome Tim,
I am one year out after AVR and aneurysm repair. My St Jude valve is loud and I guess this is the one time my nerve deafness is a blessing because I cant hear it but everyone else can...I feel it at night when I lie flat. I'm used to it already though. With tissue you dont need anticoagulant (coumadin/warfarin), but with a mechanical you will. There are alot of us who have home testing machines to test the amount of coumadin in the blood, since this has a theraputic range. Im glad I had the mechanical.

 

[Kristian]

Tim:

I am 6 weeks post op and 35 years old. I had two valves replaced, and while my Mitral PROBABLY could have been repaired, I required an aortic graft, and the long term prognosis for an aortic valve sparing operation isn't quite as well documented as the mitral, and I had a bicuspid aorta anyway, so I went with two mechanical valves (I actually told the surgeon to give the mitral repair a try but to give up if it caused him any trouble, which it apparently did).

I'm still getting used to my new internal architecture. I'm having a ton of PVC's and been to the ER twice with atrial fibrillation and had two other spells that fixed themselves after an hour or two, thankfully. The click is VERY prominent on me, but I am very skinny (6'1" and 140lbs). If I wear a sweatshirt it's reduced, and most people have no idea that I'm clicking like a clock unless it's pointed out to them. It's starting to be a comfort to me, although it is currently also a source of anxiety as I hear the irregularity of the many PVC's that I've developed over the last week or so.

Long term - I'm looking forward to my life, and I wear my valves with pride! I figure it's my first step to becoming Steve Austin.

Oh - forgot the most important part. I chose the mechanical valves specifically because I wanted to get this over with and hopefully not have to have more surgery for a good 50 years. There is an increasing chance of resurgery as time goes on with mechanical valves, but many of those folks have complications early and so if you can tolerate it for 5 years you should be good to go for a long time if you take care of yourself. At least that's what they tell me