mean time to failure

[Paul117]

Has there been research done on mean time to failure on the various mechanical valves out there?

what is the proceedure if failure accures?

 

[Magnus]

I recently read that mechanical valves have been shown to last the equivalent of 30,000 years in accelerated stress-testing. So unless you plan on getting really old they shouldn't fail on you. I'm not sure if there has been any research comparing the various brands, though.

 

[Nancy]

Well, if you want some real answers from real people, there are several here with older mechanicals. My husband's aortic is a Bjork-Shiley and still working well after 28 years. He also has a newbie St. Jude mitral a few years old.

If the valve fails, then it is replaced. There are very few catastrophic failures (unfortunately there have been some), so if you keep going for your routine checkups and have routine echoes at normal intervals, your cardiologist can keep an eye out for anything unusual.

 

[geebee]

Mechanical valves do not fail, per se. There have been a couple that have had manufacturing defects (Bjork-Shiley CC & St. Jude Silzone) but the ones being used right now seem to be functioning well over the long term.
What happens is the patient's body might cause problems that might warrant a replacement or "cleaning" of the mechanical valve. Sometimes the sewing ring can dislodge due to surrounding tissue problems causing leakage (may not be the "technical" explanation but it covers the problem). In my case, I had a lot of scar tissue that encroached on the valve disc causing it to stick shut. This required surgery to remove the scar tissue and, the second time it happened, we replaced my old recalled BSCC valve with a St. Jude. After almost 12 years, there seems to be no sign of scar tissue buildup on the St. Jude.

 

[RCB]

Has there been research done on mean time to failure on the various mechanical valves out there?

what is the proceedure if failure accures?

If you are talking about valves that are implanted today, the mean failure rate of a mechanical valve due to defects or wear is well beyond the human life span.
Even with older valves, most people pass on with valves still working well. I read a case study where one man had an old Starr-Edwards that was 38 years old. One woman post here last year the she had an old Kay disc valve that was still working fine after 32 years. Now, Mech. valves have to be replaced for other reasons as Geebee said, but it is rare.

 

[Dustin]

Has there been research done on mean time to failure on the various mechanical valves out there?

what is the proceedure if failure accures?

Structural failure of well-known mechanical bileaflet valves is of no statistical consequence whatsoever. As geebee pointed out, problems with mechanical valves tend to gravitate toward tissue ingrowth and thrombus.

 

[Hank]

St. Jude Failure Rate

St. Jude Failure Rate

When I had my aortic mechanical St. Jude implanted 7 years ago, I asked my surgeon that same question.

He said that they are placed into some type of test fixture and slammed with the highest possible level of use and abuse and typically fail at a point beyond the equivilent of 250 years of actual use.

That's just what he told me.

Personally - mine is working flawlessly after 7 years...

 

[Paul117]

mean time to failure

Thanks guys for the feed back

I will telling my surgeon that if he can't repair as he says I'm going with a mech St. Jude (55 yrs. old)

Going in on the 15th of May talkng to him one last time on Monday 8th

thanks again