A
alan_delac
43 years, severe aortic regurgitation, no significant symptoms.
About two weeks ago I went for a stress echo. I decided to get a more objective view of my ability to handle exercise. Problem is that my regurgitation is 4/4 and when I mention to doctors that I feel fine they get very suspicious.
The experience was not much fun. I managed to go through 12 minutes and I must say I don?t remember ever walking so fast. I didn?t feel too good after the test for the rest of that day. The results were OK and we scheduled another test in 6 months. My cardiologist would like to catch any early deterioration of my heart function.
Afterwards I had appointment with my cardiac surgeon and he mentioned that he went for a stress echo for his life insurance application. He gave up after only 8 minutes with, as far as I know, a normal heart. That was kind of funny.
I contacted Ross Procedure surgeon (Dr. Skillington) and asked about his results and experience with the procedure. Here are the results, I found them quite impressive:
********************************************************
I have now performed 212 Ross procedures over the past 12½ years, with only one death. Thus, I feel it is a very safe procedure. There have been 8 re-operations on the aortic valve (transferred pulmonary valve) because of the development of aortic regurgitation (3½%), and 2 re-operations on the pulmonary valve (because of infection). There have been no re-operations necessary on the pulmonary allograft, because of degeneration of the pulmonary allograft (homograft). All patients do develop a mild obstruction, and I have studied this. The average gradient approximately 18 months following surgery is 8 mm.Hg., and it plateaus at this stage. I do have approximately 5 patients whose pulmonary valve gradient is between 20 to 30 mm.Hg. (mean gradient), although, these gradients have plateaued at the 18 month mark, and have not progressed beyond that time. All patients are asymptomatic.
The Synergraft is promising, although practically, it is not available in Australia, and if it were, I believe that the current cost is prohibitive ($20,000.00 -v- $5,000.00 for the pulmonary allograft). I believe the results with the pulmonary allograft (homograft) are very adequate.
About two weeks ago I went for a stress echo. I decided to get a more objective view of my ability to handle exercise. Problem is that my regurgitation is 4/4 and when I mention to doctors that I feel fine they get very suspicious.
The experience was not much fun. I managed to go through 12 minutes and I must say I don?t remember ever walking so fast. I didn?t feel too good after the test for the rest of that day. The results were OK and we scheduled another test in 6 months. My cardiologist would like to catch any early deterioration of my heart function.
Afterwards I had appointment with my cardiac surgeon and he mentioned that he went for a stress echo for his life insurance application. He gave up after only 8 minutes with, as far as I know, a normal heart. That was kind of funny.
I contacted Ross Procedure surgeon (Dr. Skillington) and asked about his results and experience with the procedure. Here are the results, I found them quite impressive:
********************************************************
I have now performed 212 Ross procedures over the past 12½ years, with only one death. Thus, I feel it is a very safe procedure. There have been 8 re-operations on the aortic valve (transferred pulmonary valve) because of the development of aortic regurgitation (3½%), and 2 re-operations on the pulmonary valve (because of infection). There have been no re-operations necessary on the pulmonary allograft, because of degeneration of the pulmonary allograft (homograft). All patients do develop a mild obstruction, and I have studied this. The average gradient approximately 18 months following surgery is 8 mm.Hg., and it plateaus at this stage. I do have approximately 5 patients whose pulmonary valve gradient is between 20 to 30 mm.Hg. (mean gradient), although, these gradients have plateaued at the 18 month mark, and have not progressed beyond that time. All patients are asymptomatic.
The Synergraft is promising, although practically, it is not available in Australia, and if it were, I believe that the current cost is prohibitive ($20,000.00 -v- $5,000.00 for the pulmonary allograft). I believe the results with the pulmonary allograft (homograft) are very adequate.
I managed 9 minutes on my last stress echo and that's with a whole BUNCH of issues!! No wonder they're telling me I'm doing OK if a presumably healthy hearted person can only do 8 min.
