Re: Mitral Valve Repair

Posted By CCF CARDIO MD - MTR on February 17, 1999 at 16:50:01:

In Reply to: Mitral Valve Repair posted by shannon on February 17, 1999 at 13:46:28:






On a stress echo yesterday, the report said "1815 ventricular ectopy beats" (12-minute test).  What does this mean?
Secondly, after reviewing the echo results, etc., my cardiologist told me I need to have mitral valve repair or replacement relatively immediately (2 - 3 weeks).  Surgeon believes I have a good chance for a repair instead of replacment.  My question is:  is the recovery period the same?  does a repair require the use of long-term medications (e.g., Coumadin)?  Is is true that repair surgery (time in OR) is longer for repair than for replamcement; if so, why?
This is an important forum.  My thanks to CCF for keeping it going.
Shannon





Dear Shannon, thank you for your questions.  First, the ectopic beats are common and most likely are not indicative of anything.  Many people routinely have ectopic beats, although you appear to have had a large number of ectopic beats during your 12 minute stress echo.  I suggest that you speak with the cardiologist who performed the test about this issue.  Second, recovery from a mitral valve repair may be slightly less than from a mitral valve replacement.  Most often, coumadin is not needed after a mitral valve repair but this depends on the size of the left atrium, certain clinical factors, and whether a rhythm disturbance called atrial fibrillation has been present.  The length of surgery varies for each patient and it's hard to answer your question about the length of repair vs. replacement.  That depends on your valve leaflet morphology and other complex clinical factors.  Generally, there is not a large difference in operative time between the two procedures.  Overall, I think you should ask your own cardiologist and cardiac surgeon these questions because they know more about your medical history and may be able to provide more specific answers.  

I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.  Good luck.
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.