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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Missing Heart Valve
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.
Missing Heart Valve
by Tamy__0__0, Oct 11, 1998 12:00AM
My 29 year old brother was born with a missing heart valve. His heart is now enlarging and he just recently went in for an angiogram. The doctor's are suggesting they replace his missing valve with his current one and put either a pig valve or donor valve in it's place. Can you please give me some suggestions on what hospitals are best known for this type of surgery in Orange County or Los Angeles County, California? In addition, which type of valve (pig or donor) is known to be the best? Thank you!
Doctor's Answer
by CCF CARDIO MD APS, Oct 11, 1998 12:00AM
Dear Tammy,
I am just guessing, but I think the procedure that they are considering in your
brother is called the Ross procedure?
Actually there is a lot of controversy surrounding what is the best way to treat
such a young person, so the best bet always is to go to the center with the best
surgeons (i.e. the one's with the most experience not only in the Ross procedure,
but also in all the other types of valve surgery.)
There is a surgeon at UCLA medical center in Los Angeles named Dr.Vaughn Starnes
who comes recommended from our congenital heart physician and surgeons at the
Cleveland Clinic. The office number for Dr. Starnes is (213)342-5849. Even if
you just get his opinion, it would help greatly, because there are always great surgeons
to be found at major university centers such as this one, but congenital heart disease
in the adult is a highly specialized field within cardiology. There are some surgeons
that operate only on heart abnormalities in children, however they are often the
best (along with the congenital cardiologists for adults) at determining who is
best at the surgery required on adults like your brother.
Just to give you an idea of the kind of place you are looking for, here at the
Cleveland Clinic we do over 4,000 adult open heart surgeries per year, many of which
involve valve replacement and or repair. Our chairman of Cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. Cosgrove
is one of the developers of valve repair surgeries. In short you want the opinion at
least of an adult congenital cardiologist (not just the surgeon) that practices
in a major university center with significant experience in the treatment and follow-up
of patients with congenital heart disease. Other important questions to ask regarding
any surgery is what are the potential complications, what are the alternative surgical options-if any,
and what is the experience with each? (especially, which procedure will put off another operation
the longest and which operation is least likely to be taxing to the already failing heart?)
Good Luck.
I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general medical informational purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnosis 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 problem.
