seth
Well-known member
It's not clear to me why you are concerned about scar tissue at this point since you list that you have not had surgery yet. Are you considering having surgery for the aneurism separate from the valve? Or are you considering a tissue valve and wondering about scar tissue for a second surgery to replace the tissue valve down the road? How much scar tissue occurs depends on the type of surgery is performed.
I had a bicuspid calcified aortic valve, an ascending aortic aneurism (and a aneurism of the aortic root). It was the aneurisms that forced my surgery. I had a Bentall procedure with an all-in-one valve-conduit installed (mechanical valve, artificial root & aorta). If you are going to have the aneurism and valve replaced I'd advise you to be careful and realize that a Bentall procedure to replace the valve, root and aorta is very different from only having the valve replaced.
If folks are giving you advice based on valve replacement alone be aware of that. My surgeon stressed this point with me because I've had issues since my surgery and he doesn't want to do another surgery to try and fix them. He said if all I'd had done was an AVR then it wouldn't be such a big deal to go in again and replace the valve. But because I had a Bentall there is a lot more scar tissue and the coronary arteries had to be cut out and stitched into the dacron graft. Apparently for me to go to a tissue valve now the entire prosthesis would have to be replace which would be another major surgery ? made much more dangerous because of scar tissue and the damage caused by the first surgery. He especially doesn't want to mess with the coronaries again. He says he put in the mechanical valve-conduit in order to avoid another surgery and I should exhaust every option to avoid another OHS.
I hope this helps as you go through the thinking-questioning-researching process.
I had a bicuspid calcified aortic valve, an ascending aortic aneurism (and a aneurism of the aortic root). It was the aneurisms that forced my surgery. I had a Bentall procedure with an all-in-one valve-conduit installed (mechanical valve, artificial root & aorta). If you are going to have the aneurism and valve replaced I'd advise you to be careful and realize that a Bentall procedure to replace the valve, root and aorta is very different from only having the valve replaced.
If folks are giving you advice based on valve replacement alone be aware of that. My surgeon stressed this point with me because I've had issues since my surgery and he doesn't want to do another surgery to try and fix them. He said if all I'd had done was an AVR then it wouldn't be such a big deal to go in again and replace the valve. But because I had a Bentall there is a lot more scar tissue and the coronary arteries had to be cut out and stitched into the dacron graft. Apparently for me to go to a tissue valve now the entire prosthesis would have to be replace which would be another major surgery ? made much more dangerous because of scar tissue and the damage caused by the first surgery. He especially doesn't want to mess with the coronaries again. He says he put in the mechanical valve-conduit in order to avoid another surgery and I should exhaust every option to avoid another OHS.
I hope this helps as you go through the thinking-questioning-researching process.
