Tissue Valvers. How Old is Yours?

[mohel2]

Greetings:

My porcine combined aortic root & valve is coming up 7 years in November.
I have an annual echo followed by a visit with my Cardio for his interpretaion.
So far there have been no changes whatsoever, he (and I) are very happy with everything.
Like was mentioned in an earlier post, after I made my valve selection I haven't been on here very much as life is going along nicely. I'm still happy with my decision and as some have suggested, maybe by the time my valve needs replacing they will be able to insert a new one less invasively.

 

[JeffM]

Debby - Sorry to hear you're having problems. I hope it's not the valve and something that can be resolved without surgery. What size valve do you have?

To respond to the thread, my valve is 3.5 years old. No issues yet.

 

[epstns]

Regarding the question about annual echo's and follow-up care, I will probably see my cardio every six months and have annual echo's for a while due to all my post-op complications. I will also see the pacemaker clinic twice a year for routine interrogations and to monitor the leads and battery life. I don't mind the doctor visits -- it kind of "keeps me in touch with things."

 

[Bean Counter]

Do all you tissue valvers have an Echo every year?
My cardio orders one for me annually and, thankfully, he says my valve looks great.

I get mine once a year and it is probably the most stressfule day of the year for me....you never know what outcome is going to be.

 

[Sarah_Louise]

My pulmonary valve is tissue and has lasted me 10 years, thats what my next op is going to be fore-to replace it,
Yet my aortic valve that i've had in 14 months, is leaking already, and my cardiologist has said i will need it replaced in 4-6 years time,
I have echo's everytime i see my cardiologist, so at least once a year but i'm being monitored closely so at the min its every few months,
Love SArah xxx

 

[escargome]

Do all you tissue valvers have an Echo every year?
My cardio orders one for me annually and, thankfully, he says my valve looks great.

Yup see cardiologist once a year and have echo about 2 weeks prior so we can discuss at the appointment.

 

[Lynlw]

Justin is now 24 and his Bovine perimount (Aortic Valve in his pulmonary position), is also 7 years old (seems alot of the members who still post are from the 2005 year 1 of the 2 dacron conduits he got at the same time that SHOULD have pretty much lasted forever needed replaced less than 2 years later and the thought was to replace the valve and other conduit while he was open, but since they looked "brand new" they left them alone. He has "annual" cardiologist appts yearly, but since he has 2 Cards we usually work it out he is seen every 6 months or so by one of them. He has yearly echos (at the same hospital) since they are keeping an eye on a few things, and has MRI/MRA every 2 years or so since they cant get a good look at his pulm valve/conduits by echo.

 

[Lily]

Good idea for a thread!

I have a Medtronic Mosaic porcine in the aortic position to replace a deteriorating bicuspid valve and received it at age 42 and it will be nine years ago this coming October. I still have an annual echo and I'm always anxious, maybe somewhat like Bean Counter described. My gradients are increasing as Debby also described.

OldManEmu, I didn't realize you'd gone through this again already. Hope you're doing very well now.

 

[Gail in Ca]

Yes, I remember my echo when my porcine valve was coming up on 11 yrs. I was 45. I had no symptoms and felt fine. My cardio surprised the heck out of me when I came in for my appt after the echo and he said my valve was calcified and would need replacing in the next 6 mos or so! I burst into tears. I was shocked. Sometimes there are no symptoms and then you get the echo and your life changes. That's why, now, I always treat myself after an echo with a nice pastry or chocolate something, cause you never know!

 

[OldManEmu]

Debby
Sorry to hear that your Mosaic valve is deteriorating. From my cardios comments the take away was that the Mosaic valve hadn't generally been as durable as the initial trials has indicated.
Lily
I am well, recovery was much easier the second time around.

 

[Duffey]

I was 52 when I received my Edwards. I had an echo every 6 months up until a few years ago. I had post-surgery pericardial constriction that they kept checking. Now I go in every year.

 

[Tina-marie]

Hi all

My surgeon told me when I was deciding which valve to choose that they can now replace the worn out valve with a TAVI with can be inserted via angioplasty.This can not be done if you have any valve leakage or other problems.

I chose a mechanical valve as I wish to live abroad in future and was not sure if these would be available in all countries.

I understand why when getting a replacement the worry of another surgery is daunting.

I hope you are ok

Take care
Tina-marie

 

[ottagal]

. Sometimes there are no symptoms and then you get the echo and your life changes. That's why, now, I always treat myself after an echo with a nice pastry or chocolate something, cause you never know!

Gail, I too treat myself after my appts! It is always stressful leading up to those echo result appts....anything chocolate works for me!

 

[Luana]

My thought is this: it doesn't matter how long anyone else has had his or her tissue valve. The one you get may last longer, or it may not last as long. There's really no way to know and basing a decision on how long someone else has had one would be like comparing apples and tennis shoes.

 

[Jkm7]

I didn't ask the question in order to use the responses to base a decision about either my valve or someone else's.

I asked out of interest and curiousity.
Each of us does with information only what we wish to do with it.
I don't ever recall reading such a thread such as this before and seeing there can be great variance as some of us have newer generation of valves than the previous models, I think it of interest to see the range from those who know best.

 

[guyinva]

I got my Medtronic Porcine valve in October, 2010. 1 year and 8 months ago. Combined aortic valve and root.

 

[Roberta]

My thought is this: it doesn't matter how long anyone else has had his or her tissue valve. The one you get may last longer, or it may not last as long. There's really no way to know and basing a decision on how long someone else has had one would be like comparing apples and tennis shoes.

I never interpreted this thread to be about basing a decision on whether to choose a tissue valve based on how long someone has had theirs. However I am curious and interested to read about other's experience with their valve as I have a tissue valve myself.

 

[RBCola]

I have an Edwards-Carpentier bovine pericardial valve that is almost 6 years old. Its doing well according to my cardio. I get an echo once a year.

 

[Superbob]

As a tissue valver, I've found this thread to be very interesting and informative. Thanks for starting it.

As for timing of echoes, I've changed cardiologists a good bit in recent years, mostly because of relocation and I find a lot of difference in how often they recommend echos. One was doing them at least yearly, and then wanting a CT-Scan follow if he or his tech didn't understand something. My current cardio seems happy with doing one once every 2 years. I'm happy with that, too. :smile2:

 

[Lynlw]

I didn't ask the question in order to use the responses to base a decision about either my valve or someone else's.

I asked out of interest and curiousity.
Each of us does with information only what we wish to do with it.
I don't ever recall reading such a thread such as this before and seeing there can be great variance as some of us have newer generation of valves than the previous models, I think it of interest to see the range from those who know best.

Pretty much, most of the threads or questions here are like this, wether the thread is asking how old is your tissue valve, or did anyone with a mech valve need another surgery anyway, or how long have people been on Coumadin and have they had any major bleeds or strokes in that time, or even who is on longterm Coumadin even with a tissue valve etc or what was your recovery like for first or even REDO surgeries, none of it is scientific but usually you can get the stats from your doctors or a quick search online -and altho Im sure it plays a small part in everything that goes into choosing what valve you rather live with, of course it often helps to hear about other individuals experiences anyway, if only to feel you arent alone or what others around your age considerred and why and their experiences

IMO THAT is the good thing about a group like VR.org, if you could only discuss things that matter for everyones valve choice, there wouldnt be very many threads here and probably wouldnt be much point in having the forums if people didnt share there personal experiences and only discussed facts or stats

Now saying all that, It would also be interesting to know how old the person was when they got their valve as well as what position it is in, altho many eople do have which valve they needed replaced in their sigs, which i think is helpful