Overwhelmed

[surfsparky]

Hi John.
I don't know where my pulmonary valve came from...where can I find this out? I'm seeing the surgeon on Monday, so I could ask him. I was actually talking about this with my cousin who is a cardiac tech over the weekend, and we were discussing whether the problems could lie with the actual homograft valve itself. Are you thinking that there may have been problems with they way they treated/ preserved it? I'll be interested in what you know...thanks for your response,
Chris

 

[johnbelloh]

Homograft valve

Homograft valve

Hi Surfsparky

I'm sorry to hear that you are having a problem with an immune response to your homograft valve. I have a homograft valve in my aortic position. Mine came from LifeNet. From what I have learned they completely disinfect them to prevent the immune system from attacking the valve. The reason I asked if yours came from Cryolife is because they offer a different process on some of their valves. They depopulate the living cells with a patented process and then hope that the host cells will repopulate the valve. If that is the type of homograft that you received it may not have been completely depopulated of all the original donor cells which would cause an immune response. Ask your surgeon who processed your valve. This is all theory, but may explain your situation.

John

 

[Leighanne]

tissue valve longevity and future cath surgery

tissue valve longevity and future cath surgery

With all this discussion for those of us getting, having or planning to have tissue valves and are not that old, what do we know about plans to have cath lab surgery for valve replacement? My surgeon is putting in the tissue valve in great part I think because he thinks he will be able to replace it when it wears out, as early as 8 years in my case. Just wanted to put that out there in this thread.
Leighanne, PVR scheduled next Tuesday May 11th