Valve Measurement questions???

[sherry8484]

Can anyone tell me what aortic valve measurments are considered when it is severe. Here is my son's Echo. I looked on the net but I get different answers. We are now at the wait and see game for surgery.... Post balloon dilation in 1998. My son is almost 18. Now it's getting close to surgery but our insurance won't last forever on him.... Mean gradient is 43 mmHg. Aortic peak velocity measured 4.5 meters per second. Ascending Aortia is now at 4.2 .. I need some input on Moderate or Severe. Thank you guys for all the support. I love this website.

My son (Tyler)
Born with bicommissural valve. Partial fusion of the right coronary and non-coronary cusps, Dilated ascending aorta, Aortic Stenosis, Aortic Reguritation, and Left Ventricular hypertrophy....
Thank you, Sherry

 

[Duffey]

Can anyone tell me what aortic valve measurments are considered when it is severe. Here is my son's Echo. I looked on the net but I get different answers. We are now at the wait and see game for surgery.... Post balloon dilation in 1998. My son is almost 18. Now it's getting close to surgery but our insurance won't last forever on him.... Mean gradient is 43 mmHg. Aortic peak velocity measured 4.5 meters per second. Ascending Aortia is now at 4.2 .. I need some input on Moderate or Severe. Thank you guys for all the support. I love this website.

My son (Tyler)
Born with bicommissural valve. Partial fusion of the right coronary and non-coronary cusps, Dilated ascending aorta, Aortic Stenosis, Aortic Reguritation, and Left Ventricular hypertrophy....
Thank you, Sherry

Do you have a valve opening size on the echo report? I think mine was .8 with a mean gradient of 57. Anything under 1.0 is probably going to be covered by your insurance but you may need to seek a surgeon's opinion to go forward.

 

[Bina]

The echo report may state: EVA xx cm (which is Effective valve area in square cm).
Some people stay relatively asymptomatic for longer periods, I did not.
By the time my EVA was at .8 cm I was in trouble and had a dilated aortic root.

 

[MTBMike]

Following is a link to the American College of Cardiology pocket guidelines for management of patients with valvular heart disease. The report is dated June of 2006 so I don't know if the standards still apply but page 14 gives benchmarks for classification of severity. Don't know if it helps but may be a place to start. Good luck.

http://www.acc.org/qualityandscience/clinical/guidelines/valvular/valvularpocketguide.pdf

 

[catwoman]

Following is a link to the American College of Cardiology pocket guidelines for management of patients with valvular heart disease. The report is dated June of 2006 so I don't know if the standards still apply but page 14 gives benchmarks for classification of severity. Don't know if it helps but may be a place to start. Good luck.

http://www.acc.org/qualityandscience/clinical/guidelines/valvular/valvularpocketguide.pdf

Mike:
That's a great resource! Thanks for posting it.