Surgery for valular heart disease

[mvpman01]

I am a 53 year old male and have been diagnosed with the following: mitral valve prolapse syndrome, mitral, aortic, tricuspid and pulmonary insuff. and regurg. According to my Cardiologist, if surgery is performed, the only valve that would be repaired or replaced would be my mitral valve, but I have been told that my aortic valve is also quite severely insufficient and also had mild to moderate regurg, why would the surgeon only replace just one valve?

[Randyfb]

It makes sense to repair or replace both valves while they are working on you.  You need to ask your Cardiologist why he/she thinks only the mitral valve would be fixed.  Makes no sense to fix one valve, then have you face major surgery again later when the other valve starts to fail.  
I am a 53 year old male from Canada who just had my mitral valve replaced (today is post-op day 8).  My surgeon considered other work on my heart when he was in there, but discovered my heart was pretty healthy and in no need of a bypass or other procedures.  I definately felt he was prepared to do anything necessary though!  Mind you, this is Canada so there is no issue of insurance or costs.  Gotta love public health care!  Really there when I needed it.  

[kenkeith]

Good question, why not both?  A better source would be consultation with a competent surgeon.  Repair would be a better option than replace.