Is resurgery that bad if one chooses a tissue valve?

[Lynlw]

Arnie, Justin (18)had his 4th OHS last year (and a pacer removal on the same incision but below the sternum a year before that.) a few years before during a cath they found out his heart was fused to his sternum w/ scar tissue, so they used cath and stents to open his pulm artery/conduit until the benifit of OHS would outweigh the risks because of the scarring, luckily we knew about it and when talking to surgeon one of my first questions wuld be about the opening of his chest. I know of a child, who's heart was also fused to his sternum, but his surgeon didn't realze it and when cracking the chest cut his heart, air got in and wen to his brain causing so much damage even tho his heart surgery was "successful" he died.
This doesn't happen to everyone and it took 3 heart surgeries for Justin to have this happen. Also even problems can make redos difficult isn't just from fusing like Justin, but just having alot of scars between the sternum and heart that they have to carefully cut thru just to get to the heart.
Steve, I have asked that same question to a few surgeons, since many of the kids w/ CHD have numerous heart surgeries before they even get to kindergarten and was told that many of the kids w/ keloid scars don't have alot of internal scarring and not all the kids w/ alot internal scar have keloid on the outside, Lyn

ps I wanted to add, even tho Justin had a tougher surgery for the surgeon, his 4th OHS was actualy the easiest for him, he had surgery on mon and was home on fri and surfing at 8 weeks,

 

[Karlynn]

External surface scarring isn't as much an issue as scarring within the chest cavity. Someone posted that their sternum was attached to their chest wall by scar tissue and the docs had a heck of a time getting through it. (edit - and that was Lyn's son Justin! )

As far as outside scarring being an indicator of what they'll see on the inside - I truly don't know. I also keloid really beautifully. Some of my incision is and some of it isn't. But my echo done this month, 15 years post op, shows that my valve at least is free of scar tissue. I don't know what the rest of the chest cavity looks like. So go figure.

The reality is, as Tobagotwo will tell you, reops vs. mechicals is really a toss up statistically. Some people have the propensity to form more than the average amount of scar tissue. I think there may be a blood test for some factor that would indicate a clue for some people.

It's just something to be aware of, and one of many factors to consider when making a choice.

Arny - you weren't ingnorant - you were just posting what a surgeon told you. And it was factual relating to that specific area. I just wanted to show that the issue of scar tissue is broader than what the surgeon was referring to.

 

[tobagotwo]

Actually, there are some things that surgeons can do to minimize the type of "chest wall attachment" scarring that occurs. My own surgeon wrote a number of articles on reduction of that type of scarring problem, and there are several products now that are supposed to help that.

There's no reason not to ask your surgeon what he/she does to reduce both kinds of scarring possibilities. If they look puzzled, maybe you should ask around some more...

Thank you,

Bob H