Pectus Excavatum and a Mitral Valve Repair

[morganbrenton]

Hi! I’m new here, my cousin Jillian led me to this site. I’ve read several of your stories and feel inspired and hopeful again.

My husband Jake has severe pectus excavatum and a severely malfunctioning mitral valve. We have a wonderful cardiologist at Overlake but just yesterday were referred to UW med for surgery, as the surgical team at Overlake doesn’t feel comfortable repairing Jakes mitral valve with how severe his pectus excavatum is.

I guess my questions are, have any of you had an operation where your mitral valve is repaired at the same time as your breastbone? Did you have this operation at UW? What was your experience like? Did you like the surgical team at UW? And as the partner of someone who has to endure this massive surgery, what can I do to continue to support him and make him feel as confident as possible?

Thank you in advance for your help. I am so immensely grateful for this community of people.

 

[Warrick]

Hi first Id just like to say Jill comes across as a lovely young lady.
Until now Id never heard of pectus excavatum but since they have to separate the sternum to repair the mitral valve, it seems like an oportune time to kill two birds with one stone so to speak, the Ravitch procedure looks like a lengthy procedure on its own, he should come out the other end like a new man

 

[Brokenhip]

I have pectus excavatum, not noted as severe by the surgeon in his preliminary report and he operated, as far as I understand, normally for an AVR (tissue). Midline sternotomy with closure using 3 figure of eight wires. The hollow remains exactly the same as pre op.

 

[pellicle]

I have pectus excavatum,

It never ceases to amaze me the diversity of experience we have here.

 

[dornole]

I’m glad he has you. I think managing your own confidence and emotions is your top job. That way you can be attentive and observant to what he may need and he will be able to feel your steadiness and love.

 

[dornole]

Also wondering if there’s a specialty team anywhere with experience in this specifically. It seems like there could be.

 

[morganbrenton]

Hi first Id just like to say Jill comes across as a lovely young lady.
Until now Id never heard of pectus excavatum but since they have to separate the sternum to repair the mitral valve, it seems like an oportune time to kill two birds with one stone so to speak, the Ravitch procedure looks like a lengthy procedure on its own, he should come out the other end like a new man

thank you so much for your reply! Jill is my cousin and absolutely one of my best friends. She’s been my anchor through all of this. I appreciate your kind words of support!

 

[morganbrenton]

I have pectus excavatum, not noted as severe by the surgeon in his preliminary report and he operated, as far as I understand, normally for an AVR (tissue). Midline sternotomy with closure using 3 figure of eight wires. The hollow remains exactly the same as pre op.

Thats fascinating to me! Several doctors we have met with have said various things, some think his chest will look much different after surgery, some day it won’t, some say it will only take one bar to replace, I guess we will wait to get all the answers from our new surgical team. Thank you so much for your input!

 

[morganbrenton]

Also wondering if there’s a specialty team anywhere with experience in this specifically. It seems like there could be.

We were referred to UW medical center in Seattle because they have a team that has done surgeries similar to this before. But because of how severe his pectus excavatum is, the surgeon at Overlake also suggested Stanford and Cleveland. Lots of options to now look into.

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi @morganbrenton I have a degree of pectus excavatum, not severe but always noted by cardiologists ever since I remember, and on scans. When I had aortic valve replacement the surgeon had planned to do a mini-sternotomy but couldn't access my aortic valve that way and had to go on to do a median sternotomy - I suspect that was due to my pectus excavatum. The excavatum is a bit more pronounced since surgery and I have a problem with the left side of my sternoclavicular joint due to the sternotomy which causes a lot of pain in my left shoulder and arm - took five years to discover the cause of pain. Sternum is painful from time to time too, but sometimes that is the case anyway post heart surgery.

I should imagine that fixing severe pectus excavatum at the same time as heart surgery makes sense if it can be done.

 

[LoveMyBraveHeart]

So glad you joined the forum. These people have been a Godsend for me, I still pester them with all kinds of questions and they welcome them with open arms (and sometimes sarcastic remarks, which I love them more for).