Need MV Surgery ASAP and Can't Get Straight Answers

[catwoman]

Minimally invasive MV repair absolutely DOES exist!!! There are several members here who have had it. There is a surgeon in the Dallas area, Dr. William Ryan, who has done a lot of them, one on a friend of a friend with whom I now correspond.

One of our members, MaryC, had hers done by Dr. Ryan. Her sister also did. There is a member in LA, Debster913 who had a minimally invasive MV repair.

My repair, according to my surgeon, was too complicated to be done in a minimally invasive way, but definitely it does exist.

Dr. Ryan also did my husband's MV repair via a keyhole (right thoracotomy) incision, between the ribs. My husband's cardio is very impressed with the work on the valve -- and the incision is almost imperceptible.
He said that if a repair wouldn't work, he could still do a replacement via the same incision.

I asked him if he could do a side incision on me, should I ever need a re-op, and he said it was possible.

Not everyone is a candidate for a thoracotomy. Dr. Ryan said that overweight people or women with large breasts are not candidates, since the incision is right under the right breast. I believe he may have said that diabetics aren't good candidates, but don't hold me to that.

My surgeon told us that he could also do a thoracotomy, but preferred to do a full sternotomy. Said he did a lot when he started his surgical practice, but had switched to sternotomies, unless a patient specified otherwise.

 

[MaryC]

See my answers below in red:

1. Is there such a thing as 'minimally invasive' surgery WITHOUT having to open up the breast bone (chest)? My surgeon performed my MV Repair via Port Access. I have an approx. 3 inch incision below my right breatst. I also have a 1 inch or less incision in the groin, upper leg area where I was connected to the bypass machine.
2. If there is MV 'minimally invasive' surgery, were you advised to have OHS first? Dr Ryan said his access was the same either traditional or port access. He didn't have a preference but he did say, because my sister in Denver was also considering the same procedure, to make sure she selected a surgeon who had quite a bit of experience with port access. What are the exact differences between each? (The surgeon I saw, said the 'repair' itself was minimally invasive - but not the surgery itself.) The way the surgeon accesses the heart is traditional versus minimally invasive port access. I have a sister and brother who had MV Replacements via traditional method through the sternum.
I've done a lot of research on this, but I haven't found a site which definitively defines the differences, pros and cons, and get conflicting info on OHS compared with 'minimally invasive'.

3. Is there anyone here who knows of a Cardiac Surgeon or Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Heart Hospital in or around the Tampa Bay area (Tampa, Clearwater, Palm Harbor, etc.)? No but when I started researching I wasn't limiting my search to DFW. My surgeon was Dr William Ryan who happened to be in Dallas, TX
4. I've looked into all the heart hospitals and major hospitals in the area, and have only come up with ONE surgeon who 'might' be very experienced to do MV surgery.
I had my surgery at Presby Hospital in Dallas but I believe many, if not most, of Dr Ryan's surgeries are now at the Heart Hospital in Plano, TX (new in 2007)

Hope my answers help! Dr Ryan is 'the man' as far as I'm concerned.

Chris

 

[irish46]

Hi
Just saw your post and the surgeon who is going to do my surgery, did my friends mv replacement by going thru rt. side. She was 77 and in serious condition. They had to do stent day before surgery before doing mvr. She is doing fine now. This was done by Dr. Huang and St. John's Hospital in Springfield, MO.

God Bless,
Irish