Posted By CCF CARDIO MD - DLB on March 22, 1999 at 17:31:42:
In Reply to: 3rd open heart surgery posted by T. David on March 18, 1999 at 20:29:59:
My wife is having her 3rd open heart surgery.
A brief history, she had
rheumaticRheumatic fever feverAllergic rhinitis
Coccidioidomycosis
Febrile seizures
Fever
Fever blister
Fever blisters and canker sores
Herpes labialis (oral herpes simplex)
Histoplasmosis
Malaria
Rheumatic fever
Scarlet fever as a child that progressed to St. Vitus dance. After she led a
normalNormal saline flush life till 1988 when she was 32 years old she went for a balloon valvuloplasty for severe
mitralMitral regurgitation - chronic
Mitral stenosis
Mitral valve prolapse stenosisAortic stenosis
Blocked tear duct
Carotid stenosis, x-ray of the left artery
Carotid stenosis, x-ray of the right artery
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Mitral stenosis
Pulmonary valve stenosis
Pyloric stenosis
Renal artery stenosis
Spinal stenosis. There was a problem and the balloon ruptured the backside of her heart. A year later she had her
mitralMitral regurgitation - chronic
Mitral stenosis
Mitral valve prolapse and tricuspid valves replaced. Recent ekg showed her aorta valve leaking and her heart was extremely slow.
She is going to have a pacemaker put in and they are going to fix her leaking aorta. There is some concern among the doctors about the pacemaker and her tricuspid valve being a trickey placement. She has St. Jude valves in her mitral and tricuspids.
Can you explain what problems there are, and is this as uncommon as the doctors make it sound?
Thank you,
T. Dave
Dear David
The St. Jude's valve in the tricuspid position will make transvenous placement of a pacemaker problematic. However, your wife could have the pacemaker leads attached at the time of surgery to the outer surface of the heart. This gets very technical and very tricky. I would suggest that someone very experienced in cardiac electrophysiology be consulted.
I hope this has been useful. I wish you the best of luck. Feel free to write back.
Information provided here is for general purposes only. Specific questions should be addressed to your own doctor. 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.