Non surgical approach to Aortic Valve Disease

[LUVMyBirman]

Just stubmled across this article. Interesting

http://www.nmh.org/for_the_press/front_page/front_page_2003_05_19.html

 

[Christina]

Gina,

This is a first for me to hear that patients with 'clogged' (never heard this before) heart valves might benefit from treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs, potentially sparing thousands from open-heart surgery to replace the diseased valve, according to new research.
Again I see this as the medical profession pushing those high-priced, dangerous statin drugs. And the statin drugs haven't proven a thing, only that they lower the cholsterol number, but not proven to prevent any heart attacks or heart disease.
What I know is about my case (Aortic Stenosis) that the valve became stenosed/calcified/hard, but they never said that the valve itself was clogged.

Here is a link:

http://heartdisease.about.com/library/weekly/aa091600a.htm?once=true&

Hope this clarifies.

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Will keep an eye out to see what the "trails" bring.

Don't fully agree with the use of statins. But if I were handed a choice ....A . take a statin or B. open heart. I would opt for option A and take my chances. My parents have been on statins for years with no IL effects. Not that that makes it ok. But I don't see it being all that bad given other options. Like heart surgery for one.

I eat a low fat/cholesteral diet most days and still have an elevated level do to the beta blocker and genetics. It's tough when you have to fight mother nature isn't it

 

[epstns]

I had seen a couple of such references that use of statins may slow the progression of stenosis. When I mentioned this to my cardio, he said he had just read of it, but that there were not sufficient studies on human patients for him to begin using statins. He was not at all interested in being an early adopter.

I am going to see a second cardiologist in a couple of weeks, and will bring it up again for discussion. Not sure what I would do if given a choice, but if it prolongs the time before quality of life deteriorates too much, I might give it a try.

 

[Zipper]

As always...A big Thanks for the links. Knowledge is the best weapon we have in order to be our own best advocates! I appreciate all info provided here and it sure helps to keep up with all the new theories, As always...it's a 'wait and see' and hope.

Thanks all!

Zipper

 

[John Cochran]

I just read the article, and it is an interesting theory, but just a theory. I am slightly pessimistic about how successful statins may be in retarding calcification of abnormal valves. I have always had extraordinarily low cholesteral, yet my bicuspid aortic valve calcified like crazy.

From my understanding of the calcification process, which seems to be related to an inflamatory condition due to the wear-and-tear a malformed valve causes, it is nature's response to distressed tissue. Would statins slow/stop that process? If so, the malformed valve may continue to deteriorate anyway, but this is just guessing on my part. Until there are real clinical trials with significant results, I wouldn't hold my breath on this one. On the other hand, it might end up being a Godsend. This is worth following.

Thanks for posting it!

--John