Life Expectancy of St. Jude Valve

What is the life expectancy of a St. Jude mitral valve in a patient, age 64, in generally good health with no other problems? Are there any studies re the same? Will this valve gradually malfunction or will the onset be sudden with possible catastrophic results? If gradual, what symtoms (symptoms) will appear? Thank you.

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Barring infection or mechanical failure this valve should last you the rest of your life. If there were a problem it would probably be a gradual onset with a catastrophic event being very rare. If gradual you may notice shortness of breath, fatigue, etc.

[garyr]

Here's two URLs for some valve stats, they may have some data for you.

http://www.ctsnet.org/journal/ats/66/S57

http://www.aats.org/aats1998/4.html

[Suzan100]

A related discussion, mild mitral valve regurgitation was started.