You make an excellent point. Your aortic valve is a large one (ladies take note). The average is a 25. I would agree that your cardiologist has made a reasonable ballpark estimation, even though you were young for a tissue valve. I might've been a bit more conservative in my guess, but we're just prognosticating from different ends of the same data. I hate to disappoint people down the road, so I tend to look to manage expectations up front.
However, the real key to valve longevity is how long it takes before any mineral accumulation starts. You may get an extra year or two of use because of the annulus size, but it may be at diminished capacity. The loss of flexibility of the leaflets and encrustations at their edges will still lead to regurgitation (insufficiency, leakage), although the progress of stenosis (blockage of flow) may be delayed or prolonged. In many bicuspid cases, regurgitation is the cause for original replacement, rather than stenosis.
By the way, the explanations of the terms aren't for you, OME. I know you know these terms, as do many here. But there are always new people on the site who may not.
Best wishes,
However, the real key to valve longevity is how long it takes before any mineral accumulation starts. You may get an extra year or two of use because of the annulus size, but it may be at diminished capacity. The loss of flexibility of the leaflets and encrustations at their edges will still lead to regurgitation (insufficiency, leakage), although the progress of stenosis (blockage of flow) may be delayed or prolonged. In many bicuspid cases, regurgitation is the cause for original replacement, rather than stenosis.
By the way, the explanations of the terms aren't for you, OME. I know you know these terms, as do many here. But there are always new people on the site who may not.
Best wishes,
