Picking the right hospital and surgeon

I have been diagnosed with a blood clot on the top of my mitral valve.  No doctor i have spoken to at Presbyterian or Brigham's has seen this before.  I am 40 yrs old and had minimally invasive mitral valve surgery performed in 2005.  The consensus seems to be have the clot removed.  My question is determing whether I should have the clot surgery and potentially additional valve repair/replacement done at Presbyterian again (first surgery conducted) or go to brigham's in Boston

[Momto3]

I am not sure of the urgency of your plans, but Cleveland Clinic offers an "e-opinion" via its website.  It might be worth looking into.  I believe there is a $600 fee associated with the 2nd opinion, but some insurances will pick it up.

Here's a link with more information

http://www.eclevelandclinic.org/productHome.jsp?productId=standard

[milo_1]

Whomever has the best reputation...that is where you should go.  I am near Baltimore so I will be going to Johns-Hopkins for my aortic aneurysym and valve surgery.  Read more on my journals at      http://www.medhelp.org/user_profiles/show/552012

Colleen

[van6308]

The cleavland clinic is the number one heart center 14 yrs in a row!!! it's a no brainer. I live in fl and went there for aortic root surgery. They were awesome!!!!!! I had open heart surgery on Tuesday and was discharged on Sunday flew home Monday.

Mike