Sport and Bicuspid Aortic Valve

[Concerned_Mammy]

Following a routine check of a suspected heart murmour and ecg my son was diagnosed with Bicuspid Aortic Valve and a mild dilation of the ascending aorta following an echo. There is no murmour.
He is an active 7 yr old who loves sport. he plays soccer and rugby.
The specialist said that it is likely he will eventually have to stop playing contact sports but it ok for the moment.  Why would he have to stop and should we stop now?
What sports are considered acceptable life long for someone with BAV?
Is there anything we should watch out for as he plays sport or in general?

[MomofLenny]

I agree that he should be able to play sports if the dilation is mild.  After saying that I would also steer him away from the sports that he would not be able to play if the aorta dilates further.  For example:  Football, Wrestling, contact sports

This is why I say that.  My son was diagnosed with BAV and dilated aortic root at the age of 13 1/2.  He was in 8th grade.  He had every sport that he loved with a passion and was exceptionally good at taken away from him at the very first doctor visit.  We found this heart problem by chance.  There is nothing worse then trying to explain to a child that he can no longer do the things he loves because he has a heart condition especially when he doesn't feel like anything is wrong.

If I had a choice I would have wanted to know long ago about the dilation and I would have steered him to other choices.  He went thru a terrible time as a freshman in high school dealing with all of this.  He did start to go to a psychologist weekly and he is finally back on track with his life and excepting this.  He does understand that in just a short time (1 1/2 yrs) his aorta has dilated from 3.1 to 4.0 and when he gets to 4.5 he will be going to meet with a surgeon.

Good Luck with your decisions, I know they will not be easy.
Sue

[121212mom]

both of my son's had the same thing happen and are devastated they can never play football again. I am worried sick and they are depressed and withdrawing from life. do u recommend any surgeons? They r both at 4 and get an echo every 6 months.

[grendslori]

If the doctor says it's okay for your son to be active in sports at the moment, I wouldn't consider stopping him. It's a good way for him to make friends. Most doctors don't like restricting children unless they really have a severe form of heart disease, such as having a cardiomyopathy because those children can develop cardiac arrhythmias which can be fatal. If your son reaches a point where he is restricted, the doctor will give you guidelines as far as what kind of sports your son will be able to do. restricting children can have some really bad ramifications that parents don't tend to consider because they deal with the future of their child. Let him play.