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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Aortic valve operation
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.
Aortic valve operation
by Theo-v-Vurden, Oct 13, 1998 12:00AM
For 5 jears ago the saved my life by operating me a.s.a.p.from a aneurisma
from the aortic. Strange, i was always feeling well, and now i still feel well.At the
momant i'm having a artificiat aortic valve with a craaft (st.Jude). I.m 44
years old now and I'm wondering if it is'nt better for me to change the valve
in a real human valve so i don't need any anticoagulant. I'm healty and i don't smoke or drink
alcohol.I'm very happy to be alive and i'm greatful the saved my life but I read
a lot about human donorvalve's, Is this a strange question or is this possible.
Thank you for your time, i.m looking forward to hear your opinian.
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Dear Theo,
Thank you for your question. There are good points and bad points to both the mechanical valve and the tissue valves. The bad point of the mechanical valve is the long term anticoagulation. The good point is that it lasts a long time. The good point about the tissue valve is that no anticoagulation is needed but they only last 8-12 years.
In your case I would not recommend changing the valve (unless you only plan on living another 8-12 years). Not only would you have to have another surgery to change the valve to a tissue valve you would have to have an additional 2 or 3 repeat surgeries when the tissue valve wore out. Hope this helps.
Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.
