Heart Failure with "Leaky" value with bypass surgery

Hello, As I live abroad here in the US, I sometimes get the "edited version" of how my mother's health is going -- and am a bit concerned about a recent event: She is 70 and had bypass surgery about ten years ago. Recently, she experienced some problems and went into hospital for tests. Apparently she was told that she had suffered "a heart rhythm problem" and in fact heart failure had occurred, obviously temporarily. She was told that the rhythm problem had "corrected itself" but that they had noted a leaking valve. Perhaps you could give me a sense of what is going on here and what needs to be done, if anything, to correct the problem. FYI, she has not enjoyed good health since her mid-fifties: two hearth attacks, two hip replacements (arthritis), bypass, high blood pressure. They have also told her that any type of operation -- she would love to have a loose hip joint replaced for example -- would be very risky. Perhaps you can help me understand this rather complex set of issues. I really would like to have a better sense of her situation. Thanks very much indeed! Mark

[Darcy Green Conaway, MD]

I cannot guess what the rhythm was...you may want to ask specifically what the rhythm was and then I may be able to help.