Heart Valves

Posted By Linda on February 25, 1999 at 21:33:08:







Hi my name is Linda and I have a son named Andrew who is 6 years old. He has a history of mitral valve replacement and 2 1/2 weeks ago he had an aortic valve replacement. We are currently living in Florida (military family)and we are very concerned about some info we found out today. He went for his post-op check-up with his PC and he found that his new prosthesis valve (st. Jude 23mm) is leaking around the valve. The dr. is going to be consulting with his surgeon to determine what to do about this, but apparently they will probably need to re-replace this valve. I would like to know how common it is for artificial valves to leak (his mitral valve never did). And  also the surgeon also left a 13mm needle inside his chest behind his right ventricle and I need to be reassured that this will not be a problem. I do not have much faith in the surgeon at this time and if my son needs further surgery in the future we are considering bringing him to Cleveland for it. Thankyou for your help.
Linda