Onxy vs St Jude Regent?

[Boo I need a valve]

Great Experience

Great Experience

Nina,

Sounds like you had a great experience with On-x at least. Congrats and thanks for sharing your story.

1 week and 2 days until I can share mine. (I may not share that day though)

Adrian

 

[Mike C]

Always remember she works for the company whose motive is to make $.
She MAY be somewhat biased. In fact if I was her employer, I would expect her to be somewhat biased.

not a comment on the prodcut but the soruce of information. Independently verify.

If you are buying a car, you may be ebtter checking consumer reprots, etc (somewhat independent sources) than the dealership.



Mike

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Adrian,

I wrote a LONG response last night that I do not see posted this morning.

Bottom Line:

It is my understanding that the St. Jude REGENT is a NEW valve that was designed to compete with the On-X Valves.

Ask St. Jude how many REGENT valves have been implanted to date. Also ask if they have had any reports of Valve Failure with that valve.

For comparison, over 55,000 On-X Valves have been implanted in the Worldwide market over the past 10 years.

Catheran Burnett ([email protected] or 888 339-8000 ext 265 can give you much more detail on the differences between the On-X and St. Jude REGENT valves as well as a link to the Heart Surgery Forum for SURGEONS where there is relevant independent discussion (by surgeons) of this issue that you can read for yourself.

If I were in need of a Mechanical Aortic Valve today, my First Choice would be On-X. My Second Choice would be the STANDARD St. Jude Valve (NOT the REGENT).

'AL Capshaw'

 

[Marguerite53]

To Boo I need a valve


He replaced my ascending aorta which was well within the guidelines for replacement (people with bicuspid aortic valves usually have a problem with the tissue in the ascending aorta and mine was quite swollen). Best wishes,
Nina

Hello and welcome to both Boo and to Nina (I see this is your first post, Nina.... Noverholtz)

Sorry to be persnickety but I believe it is inaccurate to say that "people with bicuspid aortic valves usually have a problem with the tissue in the ascending aorta". I most certainly did not. I think it is VERY important that the ascending aorta be looked at, scrutinized and dealt with. But for the sake of newbies for whom all the information is scary and difficult to process, I would rather have it said that those with bicuspid aortic valves should be careful to have the ascending aorta analyzed prior to and during surgery.

I don't think I'm the unusual (former ) bicuspid in this respect. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Boo. Obviously you've chosen an excellent facility at Stanford and no doubt the surgeons are top notch. Good luck to you!! I'll be thinking of you on the 15th.

Marguerite

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Always remember she works for the company whose motive is to make $.
She MAY be somewhat biased. In fact if I was her employer, I would expect her to be somewhat biased.

not a comment on the prodcut but the soruce of information. Independently verify.

If you are buying a car, you may be ebtter checking consumer reprots, etc (somewhat independent sources) than the dealership.

Mike

Good Point Mike.

Has Consumer Reports ever done a report on Heart Valves?

Does anyone know of an INDEPENDENT SOURCE for reports on Heart Valves?

Anybody want to start an organation to do Independent Studies on Heart Valves, with your own money, time, and resources and publish the reports FREE to the public?

I didn't think so.

SO, Does anyone have a Source of Patient Information at ANY of the other Valve Manufacturers?

Check the websites for

ATS at www.ATSmedical.com

CMI at www.CarboMedics.com

Medtronics-Hall at www.medtronic.com

On-X at www.onxvalves.com

St. Jude Medical at www.SJM.com/devices/deviceindex.aspx

'AL Capshaw'

And NO, I am not on the payroll of ANY Valve Manufacturer.
It is NOT my JOB to educate the public on Heart Valves.
I encourage anyone interested in Heart Valves to do their OWN research and draw their OWN conclusions.

 

[Susan BAV]

I'm just wondering: Al, do you mind my asking why you have posted a Sales Rep's name and contact information again, so many times on just this one thread alone, when the thread was originated by a man who has clearly stated that he has already communicated with the Sales Rep? You stated this:

...I must have missed, i.e. Not Read, the Post Script following Boo's signature line which contained the information that he had already contacted Catheran.

Sorry for the confusion...

but then you again posted the Sales Rep's name a few more times and her contact information again. Why?

 

[Lynlw]

Adrian,

I wrote a LONG response last night that I do not see posted this morning.

Bottom Line:

It is my understanding that the St. Jude REGENT is a NEW valve that was designed to compete with the On-X Valves.

Ask St. Jude how many REGENT valves have been implanted to date. Also ask if they have had any reports of Valve Failure with that valve.

For comparison, over 55,000 On-X Valves have been implanted in the Worldwide market over the past 10 years.

Catheran Burnett ([email protected] or 888 339-8000 ext 265 can give you much more detail on the differences between the On-X and St. Jude REGENT valves as well as a link to the Heart Surgery Forum for SURGEONS where there is relevant independent discussion (by surgeons) of this issue that you can read for yourself.

If I were in need of a Mechanical Aortic Valve today, my First Choice would be On-X. My Second Choice would be the STANDARD St. Jude Valve (NOT the REGENT).

'AL Capshaw'

Your post is still here, it is in the thread started the guy that was worried and confused and is going to the Mayo,a very good heart center

 

[Boo I need a valve]

Aortic dilation, anurism...

Aortic dilation, anurism...

I explored the connection between BAV (Bicuspic Aortic Valve) and aortic anurism with my Cardio. Turns out its somewhat predicatable, and may not be that grim.

Although I have have seen quotes like ">50% of young patients with normally functioning BAV's have echocardiographic evidence of aortic dilation" my doc refered to a paper by Tirone E. David who did a lot of reseach in this area.

I still have to look for it on the web, but bottom line, size of the Aorta is a good indicator of future needs, and it may not be automatically grim for us BAV folks. ie , if you are below a certian size, you have under a 4% chance of future complications, and so on.

If its helpful to anyone, I can try to get the actual paper from my doc.

Adrian

 

[Susan BAV]

That's very interesting, Adrian. I think many of us would appreciate the details if/when you can track it down. Thanks!

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Thanks, I guess my question at the end about why they would give mech valves knowing all of this, is why they wouldn't use tissue valves that wouldn't need the meds. My thoughts were since they had surgery, they would want to do whatever it would be to make it easiest for them after it to stay as healthy as possible, the easiestway.
those numbers are a huge difference.

My source tells me that the reason that Tissue Valves were NOT implanted in most of these non-compliant socioeconomicly disadvantaged South Africans was because of their (young) age. It is a well known fact that tissue valves will wear out in only a few years in young patients and many of these patients were not likely to come in for regular followup examinations.

One interesting tidbit that I noticed in the South African study report was that a FEW non-compliant women with On-X valves had full term pregnancies with NO anti-coagulation. I don't expect to see this as a recommended course to follow in the western world.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I think you meant mech were implanted. I guess it is a hard choice.

Actually what I meant to say was why Tissue Valves were NOT implanted. I will correct that statement.

'AL'

 

[Philip B]

Valve Choice

Valve Choice

After doing some research my first choice for AVR was the On-X. Unfortunately (or perhaps not), I ran into the same issue Ross faced with the need for an aortic graft. A St. Jude with a factory installed conduit reduced the amount of time I needed to be on the heart-lung machine.

Hemodynamics are outstanding with the On-X and the valve damages fewer red blood cells. This said, my St. Jude valve is clicking and ticking along just fine.

-Philip

 

[Ross]

After doing some research my first choice for AVR was the On-X. Unfortunately (or perhaps not), I ran into the same issue Ross faced with the need for an aortic graft. A St. Jude with a factory installed conduit reduced the amount of time I needed to be on the heart-lung machine.

Hemodynamics are outstanding with the On-X and the valve damages fewer red blood cells. This said, my St. Jude valve is clicking and ticking along just fine.

-Philip

What model number did you get Philip? I got a CAVG-404.

 

[Philip B]

Model Number

Model Number

Hi Ross,

Mine is a 25VAVGJ-515.

-Philip

 

[HarleyM]

Long story made short, I have the ON-X valve, going on 1.5 yrs now. My surg had never used it before. Two years of searching for info for me and the result was the ON-X. My surg agreed to get info for me then later said he could use it. First time ever in his pratice and also for the hospital. Once I was opened up they found the 3 anyerisms(sp) and needed the dacron graft for root replacement. No problem as my surg came out of surg rm and met with my wife. Told her of the findings and options. Decided to sew in the graft himself and back to work he went. Surg time was 81 minutes. He is very fast and very good! I truely believe this valve was my best option as I'm VERY active. Search my previous posts and you'll see what things I have done in this short 1.5 yrs. Good luck with your choice as I am very happy with mine.

Harley

PS Hemotoligists told me she didn't see any fragmented blood cells and asked me again if I was sure I had a mechanical valve.

 

[JoeJoe]

Lower warfarin dose application submitted

Lower warfarin dose application submitted

Our surgeons are very slow to go with new valves. Ten years ago they never stocked the silzone valve and this saved me a lot of trouble. They use the tried and true and will wait till ON-X has been out there for years in hundreds of patients before they use it. Dr Lefrak who is a pioneer and wrote the book on prosthetic valve history and development has told me that new valves claiming no need for warfarin have come on the market regularly for the last 30 or 40 years. Frankly, if I was getting a valve today I would opt to be in the control group rather than the On-X group.

Marty, but now ON-X has submitted an application to the FDA for reduced warfarin. So we may find out pretty soon if the ON-X will at least live up to part of the expectations. Then, hopefully within a few years, we'll see if in low risk patients, the goal of no warfarin will be attained.

JoeJoe

 

[JoeJoe]

What model number did you get Philip? I got a CAVG-404.

But now ON-X also has valve with attached conduit.

 

[JoeJoe]

Al, Just curious, why would you not go with the Regent?

 

[pellicle]

Pretty scarry stuff for a first timer, but the forum here has helped me a lot. Thank you all!

I understand ... but it'll all be ok ...

I am considering asking my surgeon to use an Onyx valve. I'm 36 and otherwise very healthy and active, so the potential of getting a valve with a reduce need for Coumadin is interesting to me.

understood ... I came from the same perspective. I wonder why noone considers the ATS valve here?

I have already reviewed all the Onyx web material. I found it compelling, but highly selective in how it compared itself to other valves.

Yes, I was initially inclined to the ON-X valve myself.

I wrote on my blog the following:
http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/heart-of-matter.html

you may also like to review this thread, which seems to discuss what I also uncovered (but can't find again now)

http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...On-X-vs-ATS-open-pivot-The-Truth-is-Out-There

 

[Lynlw]

Ijust wanted to point out this thread was started in 2007 so is now over 5 years old. many of the people who posted on it, including Boo, no longer are members or active