ST JUDE & ON-X — Study and Data

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

If you could please dump all articles, studies and data links in this thread, that would be great. I'm trying to compare the two without being influenced by the marketing strategy and efforts of each company. Going in for surgery in 5 days and would like to choose between the two. Thanks in advance!

 

[Arne]

Can an admin delete this post? It was accidentally posted before I logged in. :S

 

[tom in MO]

I asked my surgeon about valve choice, specifically the On-X due to the advertisements on this forum. My surgeon told me up front he likes the St. Jude but was familiar with the On-X. For my condition he said there was no clinical reason to give me the On-X, but if I wanted it he would put it in. I let him decide and I have a St. Jude. My suggestion is to let the choice be made by the expert, your surgeon.

 

[ajc1991]

My surgeon gave me the option of the St. Jude or the ON-X. In the beginning I was going to choose the ON-X, but after realizing that St. Jude has a longer track history (and a successful one at that), I decided to go with the St. Jude. ON-X has a good history but it hasn't been around as long as the St. Jude.

 

[chaconne]

I chose the On-X because it seemed like there could be some future advantages. The surgeon was willing to implant it and had done many before, even though he preferred working with the St Jude. At the time there was no clinical reason to choose one over the other, with the exception of the barrier to pannus ingrowth in the On-X. Recently it seems like there may be a lower INR benefit to the On-X. I've had nurses tell me that my On-X valve is quieter than patients they've had with the St-Jude as well as an echo tech that told me my valve looked more like a natural valve as far as gradient and blood flow. Of course these are just anecdotal, and the opposite could be true in other cases.

The bottom line is, you need to choose what you are comfortable with. Being an engineer, I was drawn to the newer technology and didn't feel I was adding any significant risk.

 

[Cardinal fan 61]

Not all of us have a choice. I inquired about On-X and was told the hospital only stocked one brand to keep costs of inventory down. It is either a bovine or St. Jude for me. Leaning towards the St. Jude.

 

[John_MiG-19]

I chose the On-X because it seemed like there could be some future advantages. The surgeon was willing to implant it and had done many before, even though he preferred working with the St Jude. At the time there was no clinical reason to choose one over the other, with the exception of the barrier to pannus ingrowth in the On-X. Recently it seems like there may be a lower INR benefit to the On-X. I've had nurses tell me that my On-X valve is quieter than patients they've had with the St-Jude as well as an echo tech that told me my valve looked more like a natural valve as far as gradient and blood flow. Of course these are just anecdotal, and the opposite could be true in other cases.

The bottom line is, you need to choose what you are comfortable with. Being an engineer, I was drawn to the newer technology and didn't feel I was adding any significant risk.

I am attracted to the On-x design for the engineering characteristics as well. I have e-mailed my doc to see if I can get one- would love it!!

 

[RobThatsMe]

I had a St Judes for 10 yrs. Then Pannus started to develop and prevented my St Judes Aortic Valve from functioning properly.
In fact, they only gave me less than a year to get it replaced, or I wouldn't be around to worry about it.
So, This time I elected to go with the On-X due to some engineering improvements over the St Jude, and most importantly to me,
was that one of those improvements was to deflect any panus development that may occur around the valve..

 

[cldlhd]

My plan is valve repair but of it can't be it's going to be mechanical. I mentioned on-x but the surgeons assistant said in the graft it's only available in smaller sizes. The on-x rep said the solution is for the surgeon to sew a bigger graft. I would prefer simply because of the pannus protection. On the subject of pannus anyone out here have any info on pannus with repaired valves?

 

[RobThatsMe]

My plan is valve repair but of it can't be it's going to be mechanical. I mentioned on-x but the surgeons assistant said in the graft it's only available in smaller sizes. The on-x rep said the solution is for the surgeon to sew a bigger graft. I would prefer simply because of the pannus protection. On the subject of pannus anyone out here have any info on pannus with repaired valves?

At the time of my surgery, On-X did not have a valve with graft, my surgeon made his own, and sewed On-X valve to it.
4 1/2 yrs since my St Judes was replaced with the On-X, and all is going very well.

 

[cldlhd]

At the time of my surgery, On-X did not have a valve with graft, my surgeon made his own, and sewed On-X valve to it.
4 1/2 yrs since my St Judes was replaced with the On-X, and all is going very well.

thanks, I'm not expecting to have it replaced but if so that's what I'd like to have also.