What is successful MV surgery?

[Stan H.]

I had a mitral valve repair done 5/17/99...severe regurgitation and enlarged lv and la.  The surgery was considered successful, leaving me with only "trivial" leakage. (My enlarged left atrium and ventricle have both returned to normal size).  I have spoken with others who have had repairs or replacements and, they too, have some minor leakage remaining.  What implication does residual post surgical leakage have, and does this have any bearing on the longevity of the repair or replacement?  Do some repairs result in absolutely no detectable leakage?  Thank you for your consideration.

[CCF CARDIO MD - DLB]

Trivial leakage is nothing to worry about, often found in normal hearts also.

[Hank Eyring]

Hello There Stan,

I am writing you to let you know about a list that myself and several other Aortic Valve Replacement patients have created.

I am a 33 year old male who had aortic valve replacement surgery in April of 1999.  I often had questions about stuff like what do other people’s spouses think about their valves clicking, to how do the kids deal with Dad having major surgery.  Also issues about what is involved in approaching surgery, going through surgery and recovering from surgery. We also discuss the use of coumadin since most of us have to take it for the rest of our lives.

If you would like to join a mailing list along with folks who have been through this kind of stuff before and are facing it in the future, just go to the following URL and sign up.

http://frontpage.inficad.com/~hanky/heart.htm

You will find much help with this list and we all learn from each other.

Hope you can join us,

Hank Eyring