Looking for Heart Port Surgeons in Florida

[DLH]

I am looking for anyone who had the Heart Port surgery in Florida to repair or replace their mitral valve. Would like to know surgeon name and hospital and any other information on results and how you made decision on them.

Thanks,
DLH

 

[hensylee]

Bill had his done in Tallahassee, a few at Shands in Gainesville, I had bypass in Pensacola but don't know if they are doing valve surgeries - others will come in to elaborate as they see your thread and to perhaps tell you of other spots in Florida. You know there are two satellite Cleveland Clinics right here in Florida?

 

[samiam]

I am looking for anyone who had the Heart Port surgery in Florida to repair or replace their mitral valve. Would like to know surgeon name and hospital and any other information on results and how you made decision on them.

Thanks,
DLH

I had my mitral valve relaced at Cleveland Clinic near Ft Lauderdale by Dr Boyd. I asked him about the port procedure. If I recall properly, it seemed that port would work on repair. BUT, if the valve was messed up too bad and needed to be replaced, he would sew up the port accesses, roll me over onto my back and go for minimal invasive. Our problem was that he couldn't tell the extent of damage and reparability until he actually eyeballed the valve, and he really didn't want to roll me around on the table. Can't say as I blame him.

I saw a newspaper clipping from the Miami Herald, maybe 3-5 months ago, about someone doing port in South Florida. Sorry I forget the hospital and other details.

Good Luck...

 

[DLH]

I think I might be confused I thought the port and minimally invasive were the same. Is it not where they make an incision about 3"-4" long under the left breast and go between the ribs to get to the heart? The one that I am shooting for is the one shown on or-live.com:

http://www.or-live.com/archives.cfm?browseby=specialty&id=5&event=164

I will probably check out CC in Weston, everyting just has to be coordinated through my local physicians and HMO since this will be out of network.

hensylee,

What did Bob have done in Tallahassee and by whom?

DLH

 

[hensylee]

It was Bill Aldridge - he doesn't come in often anymore. It isn't Tallahassee after all, it's Pensacola. I had surgery, too, in Pensacola (quad bypass). I just looked up Bill's profile and here's what it says:

Bill Aldridge

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts"

Aortic Stenosis/Bicuspid valve with "boulders of calcium" attached.
AVR St. Jude "Regent" 25 mm Sept. 12, 2002
Baptist Hospital, Pensacola Florida
Dr. James L. Nielsen

 

[Christian]

I believe that "port access" mitral valve surgery involves a 2-3" incision on your right side between your ribs. Then they use catheters and transesophagal (down the throat) echocardiograms to assist with the surgery. It's one type of "minimally invasive" valve surgery.

More commonly, "minimally invasive" valve surgery involves a three-inch incision down the top of your sternum. Here's a description:

http://www.clevelandclinic.org/hear....asp?firstCat=59&secondCat=440&thirdCat%3=444

 

[Phyllis]

I don't know anything about the Orlando Medical center but found this with a google search:


"Title: Orlando Regional Medical Center Performs Revolutionary Heart Surgery
URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/FDC6.htm
Doctor's Guide
January 8, 1997


ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 8, 1997-- Surgeons at Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) announced today that they will begin performing Port-Access heart surgery, a new minimally invasive procedure that offers patients major improvements over traditional open-heart surgery in terms of pain and recovery following surgery. The new procedure also may reduce hospital stays and healthcare costs. ORMC is the first medical center in Florida, the third in the Southeast, and the eleventh in the nation to perform this operation.

Port-Access technology allows doctors to perform heart operations through a few small incisions, or "ports," made in the chest wall between the ribs. This eliminates the need to crack open the patient's breastbone to reach the heart, which is considered one of the most traumatic aspects of open-heart surgery.

Surgeons at ORMC expect that Port-Access surgery will significantly reduce the pain, trauma, an scarring of conventional open-chest surgery, minimize the risk of complications, speed recovery time, and improve quality of life for heart surgery patients.

"With Port-Access surgery, we expect patients to resume their normal lives much more quickly," said Joseph Boyer, M.D., cardiovascular surgeon. Most patients should be able to leave the hospital in three or four days and recover fully in one to two weeks. This compares very favorably with the week or more that patients often stay in the hospital after conventional heart surgery and the subsequent two- or three-month convalescence period."

ORMC is currently using Port-Access surgery to correct diseased heart valves and for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Port-Access surgery incorporates what the majority of surgeons consider the most important advantages of open-heart surgery, namely, stopping and protecting the heart and supporting the patient's circulatory system with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) while the heart is being repaired. This approach has been the standard in conventional open-heart surgery for nearly 40 years, and is widely credited with making heart surgery safe and effective.

To perform Port-Access surgery, doctors stop the heart and connect the patient to a heart-lung machine using specially designed catheters and devices threaded to the heart through blood vessels in the thigh and neck. Surgeons then perform the reparatory maneuvers on the heart in the same way as they do now in open-chest surgery, but instead operate through a single 3- to 4-inch incision in the chest wall.

In the Port-Access method, CPB is established by inflating a balloon inside the aorta to block blood flow to the heart. This differs from standard cardiopulmonary bypass, in which a metal grip is clamped on the exterior of the aorta and tubes are placed in the great vessels of the heart to divert blood flow. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine has linked extensive aortic manipulation during standard CPB with the development of post-operative stroke. The more delicate action of the Port-Access balloon clamp reduces such manipulation and may provide significant safety benefits.

"Operating on a heart that has been stopped and protected provides the best environment for performing cardiac surgery," Dr. Boyer said. "Port-Access surgery enables us to retain this important advantage, potentially improve on it, and bring the benefits of a minimally invasive approach to a large number of heart patients."

Port-Access Systems are a product of Heartport, Inc., a cardiovascular device company based in Redwood City, California.

Voted one of the country's "Top 100 Hospitals," Orlando Regional Healthcare System is a 1,338-bed community owned hospital system committed to dedicating its resources to those it serves and investing any profits back into medical care and other benefits for the people of Central Florida. Established in 1918 as Orange General Hospital, ORHS now encompasses six hospital facilities in four counties and more than 10 healthcare-related affiliates. "

 

[DLH]

Does anyone know whether minimally invasive / port surgery is offered at Mayo in Jacksonville or Shands in Gainesville? I know my HMO will refer to these to hospitals with little resistance.

 

[Dave S]

I had my AVR on 5-25-05 at North Ridge Medical Center by Dr. Kenneth Herskowitz. His group is called Heart Lung Surgical Institute they are in Ft Lauderdale Fl.

I checked everyone out in the area and outside the area and I always came back to this guy. he is a younger doc mid 50's said he has done more then 1700 AVR and even more MVR from my research he is the top Doc in the area for MVR or repair.

I had the minimally invasive surgery I now have a three-inch scar on my left upper chest area 4th intercostal space .it is the way to go, very quick recovery

Now what I did find out from everyone I talked to was to stay away from Mayo in Jacksonville, Shands in Gainesville and the Cleavland Clinic in Weston was the worst.

The best recommendation was North Ridge, Broward General, or the Miami Heart institute. I choose North Ridge because it is the best hosp in the area. and its the one that my Doc recommended. the hospitals mortality rate is 2%.
My doctors is 1-2%. The other reason I choose this hospital was I am a FireFighter/Paramedic in the area I have been telling patients for 20 years that this is the best cardiac hosp around and if I ever needed it this is where I would go, so I guess I put my heart where my mouth is.

If you would like to talk I would be more they happy to.

Dave

 

[DLH]

Local Surgeon Visit Today

Local Surgeon Visit Today

Today at 1:00 I go to the local surgeon to see what he says about my mitral valve. The cardiologist did not think it would be done locally, but as per HMO protocol I must go to a network surgeon first and see what he says. If he thinks I need to go somewhere out of network then the cardiologist and the surgeon will need to write a letter to the HMO medical director for approval of out of network care. Oh, the politics of health care.