mitral valve repair in siblings/going to CCF with HMO

Posted By lyn on July 24, 1998 at 00:57:17:







I had mitral valve repair at CCF at age 39, when symptoms first appeared.  My younger brother started having symptoms also at age 39.  (He had not been previously diagnosed with MVP.)  This is apparently genetic.  Does this commonly appear in siblings at the same age in life?  No other members of our family have needed this surgery.  I am strongly advising him to have the surgery at CCF, however, he has both Blue Cross and Pacificare HMO's and his doctor is recommending a local San Diego surgeon.  I had good clinical data to support going to CCF at the time of my surgery (1991), but I did'nt keep it.  Can you help?  It was an article explaining the need for regional hospitals that do a large number of repairs to gain expertise vs. local hospitals.  It also had mortality rates for CCF, Texas Heart and Good Samaritan and named Dr. Cosgrove and Dr. Kay specifically.  He needs the surgery within the next 4 - 6 weeks because the valve is leaking badly. The TEE is scheduled for 8/6/98.  I sent my regular echo video to CFF and was told that repair was possible.  His doctor said he must have the TEE before the decision between repair vs. replacement is made.  He also said the porcine valve was better than mechanical because no anticoagulents are needed.  I was surprised to hear this because I beleive mechanical valves are used much more often than pig valves.  Please advise.