mitral valve repair

[willprid]

Hi
My name is Bill. I've just found this site which looks great!
I'm 58 with severe MV regurgitation which has been kept under observation for about 5 years by Mr Livesey's team at Southampton General Hospital by echosounding.
At my last appointment I was told by the registrar Mr Viola that I ought to have a repair (not replacement) done soon.
Of course I know it has to be done eventually but open heart (they don't do keyhole) surgery is a BIG step!
My problem is that I lead a full life with plenty of skiing, gym, tennis etc. and have no symptoms apart from the occasional palpitation.
I have been told that sudden deterioration of the condition could lead to permanent damage but I am unsure why suddenly the situaton has changed as Mr Viola confirmed that the condition was no worse than at the last visit and that the risks of surgery (1 to 2 % mortality) would not increase significantly over the next few years.
If anyone has had similar experience it would be great to hear from you.
Thanks
Bill Priddle

 

[Cooker]

Hi Bill and welcome to VR.com. You will find that the information here is endless. I had my aortic valve replaced so my situation is different in that respect. But I was in the waiting room for a while. One common thread from the three doctors I talked with was "the time to get it done is before the heart sustains permanent damage. I am fortunate to have had a full recovery, in better shape than before but there are those here that will testify to the pitfalls of waiting too long. OHS is a big deal but if you are healthy and in good shape you should do just fine. I wish you well.

 

[Phyllis]

Welcome, Bill. Do you have a copy of the echo results?- that would help determine where you are in the waiting room if you could post it.

 

[Susan BAV]

Hi Bill -

Welcome to the site; glad you found it. Many here have found that our cardiologists sometimes tended to treat our valve decline symptoms with medications, and then the heart can become weaker; while surgeons frequently tended to want to correct the issue so the heart doesn't sustain permanent damage.

But there are frequently specific measurements, sometimes along with symptoms, that indicate surgery can be close. Also, as faulty valves get worse, they seem to snowball--getting worse at a faster pace.

Also, as I have plunked around on this site for a few years, sometimes there do seem to be some subtle different tendencies among members/patients in regard to mitral valve decline as opposed to aortic decline, etc., and also in regard to the cause of the decline.

Have you also had a chance to read the Stories section here? It can be a very interesting read. Take care.

 

[Bina]

Hello Bill, and welcome to the group!
OHS has to be done, whether it is sooner or a bit later. My personal thoughts are to not wait too long....you are 58 and fit, a good way to go into a big surgery. Best wishes.

 

[MikeHeim]

I want to "echo" the words of others in that it would be extremely helpful to have a copy of your last echo report. I had significant left ventricle enlargement with very few symptoms at all, so this could be something they are looking at. I was pretty close to the threshold where I could have sustained permanent damage if I was not fixed quickly, but I felt pretty much perfectly fine. You do, of course, want to get things fixed before they progress to that level.

 

[Christina L]

Hi Bill -

Hi Bill -

I had mitral valve repair 4 years ago at the Cleveland Clinic. Both of my mitral leaflets were floppy and redundant, so it was considered a "complicated" repair.

Unlike many here, my cardiologist wanted surgery done sooner rather than later and Dr. Cosgrove (surgeon in Cleveland) said I could wait a few more years. Most say it is the cardiologist who puts off surgery - not in my case.

I went ahead and had the surgery done as because many here will attest, you don't want to have any damage done to your heart by waiting too long to have the valve repaired.

You will be fine - it sounds as if you are in great shape, but one thing I noticed is that I was more short of breath before surgery than I realized. Now my exercise tolerance is amazing. It takes me a while to get going once I start exercising but once I do, I am fine. You may have more symptoms than you realize, BUT if your echo or stress echo is showing any decline in heart function, NOW is the time to have your surgery.

Best of luck in your decision!

Christina L

 

[willprid]

mitral valve repair

Hi
Thanks to all of you who have replied so promptly.
I have e-mailed my surgeon and asked him for a copy of the echo.
Bill

 

[WayneGM]

Welcome to the VR Community. Glad you found us.

I had a mitral valve repair and was asympomatic at the time. In fact, my Card was very surprised how well I did in the physical stress tests despite the severe regurg. However, deterioration can happen quite rapidly and permanent damage can be done before you know it, especially if you don't notice symptoms. It took 6 months from when I made the decision to getting my surgery done as I was not at the point of absolute necessity. I even got I got bumped once after already being pre-admitted. By the time I actually had the surgery, my pre-op echo showed signed of heart chamber enlargement. Luckily, I had it repaired before permanent damage could be done and since the surgery the heart chambers have returned to normal. I have absolute no regrets about electing to go for the surgery earlier rather than later. It took a bit over a year to recover from the surgery, but now I do everything physically I did before.

Best wishes and good luck.

 

[harleygirl528]

Hi Bill and welcome to this site. I don't have any specific advice about your mitral valve situation but I can echo your feelings in terms of feeling great and finding it hard to believe that you have to have surgery. I am 41 years old, lead a fairly active life and just found out in October that I have a aortic aneurysm requiring surgery NOW. I did take the time I needed to research surgeons and to come to terms with everything but I am having surgery two weeks from today. it is very overwhelming but I will tell you this site is an enormous resource for you. So ask away and you will receive a lot of responses and the wonderful thing is these folks really know...because they've been through it!

Everyone will be here to support you through all the phases so stay connected! Take care and again, welcome!

 

[Adrienne]

Hi Bill. Take it from another mitral valve repair person, you do not want to wait too long. I don't know what the measurements of your left ventricle and left atrium are, but that is important to look at. If the left ventricle becomes too dilated, they will not go back to normal size after the operation, and you can be left with congestive heart failure (CHF). If the left atrium becomes too dilated (my case), you can go into atrial fibrillation, and if you already have severe regurgitation, it's the atrium which is giving that extra kick to get the blood moving in the right direction (which is why it becomes dilated to begin with). That was my case also, and because I was no longer getting that extra kick from the atrium, I started going into CHF. Luckily, I was cardioverted (the paddles) and then put on medication until they could schedule the surgery less than two months afterwards.

My repair was a very complicated one, as the valve was quite calcified from endocarditis which I had had the year before. However, to answer your question about keyhole surgery, there are several members on this site who have had minimally invasive mitral valve repairs where they go in the right side and leave a very small scar.

Anyhow, although I had a fantastic surgeon who was able to repair my valve, do a Maze procedure, and patch up a hole between the two atria, and although my heart has remodelled amazingly, and although I feel great, in retrospect, I would have had the same surgeon but at least two years before I had it done (20/20 hindsite).

 

[just1gary]

My Story

My Story

In June of 2006 I was diagnosed with severe mitral regurgitation which was discovered by a heart murmur. After getting an TE and angiogram tests, the diagnosis indicated that I had ruptured chordae to one leaflet. I had three separate cardiac surgeons (which includes Cleveland Clinic) tell me prior to surgery that they were 90% and/or 95% sure the Mitral Valve coud be repaired, so I decided to go ahead and have OHS even though I too was asymptomatic.

As planned the one leaflet was repaired but when I was taken off the heart/lung machine the other good leaflet that did not have any symptoms blew apart when my heart started beating on it's own. As a result the mitral valve was completely replaced and I awoke with a tick-tick-tick......

In my case I went with what I thought was good choice, get the repair done prior to any damage (symptoms or not). I'm not sure if the other leaflet would have ever torn apart by itself if I decided to wait a bit but I'm sure glad it did break apart during my OHS. Anyway I would suggest that you try and not second guess yourself, I would rather error earlier than later. Hopefully you don't repeat any of my leaflet failure.

 

[willprid]

thanks

thanks

Thanks to you all for the advice. I have decided to go ahead with the OHS while I am still fit and active-I'l let you know how it progresses.
Thanks again
Bill