Results of my Echo post surgery

[Ticky]

Had my follow up echo done on Thursday. I'm at the 3 1/2 month mark post surgery. Received a note in the mail from my GP (I assume the cardiologist forwarded my results to her). It says "the valve looks stable, mild prostethic valve regurgitation, mild-moderate tricuspid regurgitation." Of course I got this after all of my doctors' offices are closed. I plan on calling tomorrow but in the mean time, should I be concerned?

Help!
Lisa

 

[Marguerite53]

Certainly I wouldn't worry about it. I can't really comment on the mild to moderate, but perhaps it has something to do with the newness of your ammended system. We will all be curious to hear what the cardio's response is.

I had an echo done at 1 month post op due to odd arythmmias (nothing since, am at 6 months now) and the cardio called and said, the echo is okay. Okay. That's all she said. Okay. Well, I expected some superlatives!! I expected some glorious descriptives! These doctors are not known for their hyperbole!

Stable is a good word. Don't worry. Let us know.

Marguerite

 

[Ross]

Nope. Most people do have regurg to some degree afterwards. Not at all abnormal.

 

[Ticky]

Thanks, this forum is great. Does the regurgitation generally improve the farther out from sugery you get?

Lisa

 

[bvdr]

Lisa, if your left atrium was enlarged before surgery (which is quite common with mitral valve problems) than your tri-cuspid regurg may start diminishing as it goes back down to size. Mitral valve problems tend to back up traffic, so to speak, and that sometimes shows up in the tri-cuspid valve. Give your heart more time to heal and hopefully it will settle down. Let us know what the doctor says though. I do hope you are collecting copies of all test results for your own file. You need to so you can watch trends and be really well informed about your heart.