Dear Scottie,
A) would you agree that surgery is the only way to reduce the work of the heart on this side?
A: If the increase in right sided pressures (and perhaps a decrease in pumping function) is due to the outflow obstruction then the only way to stop this progression is by surgery.
B) would symptoms for this be tiredness(fatigue) with some breathless and palpations at times ?
A: This would be typical symptoms for right sided heart failure.
C) have you come across this before ?
A: I personally do not treat a lot of congenital heart disease but I would suspect this is not an uncommon problem in adults with corrected TOF.
Am curious, Did your cardiac surgeon tell you this surgery was necessary and what sort of testing did he do?If your cardiac surgeon said the surgery was necessary I would tend to go with it.They don't lightly recommend surgery of this nature unless necessary.I personally would go to a academic /medical center for the surgery and find a cardiac surgeon that does both children and adults.That is what I did when I required open heart surgey and I don't regret using this guy one bit A course a second opinion would never hurt.Good luck
Yes, it would be good for you to get a second opinion. Make sure to ask lots of questions so you understand your options, what will happen with/without surgery. Is your condition life threatening if you don't have the surgery, will it progress, etc. What are the dangers of having surgery and is the surgery more of a risk than not having it.
Thankyou all for your prompt replies ...yes surgery has been recommended to me by my Congenital Cardiologist after a heart Cath and the normal heart function tests but I am also experiencing the fatigue the I asked about.I just wondered if this fatigue/breathlessness and palps could be my imagination .I am due to meet with the Surgeon soon ..just wanted to ask the questions
Thanks Scottie