Life expectancy

[D.Grimes]

What would the life expectancy be for a 39 year old female with ventricular tachycardia (defibrillator implanted), slightly enlarged heart, had cardiomyopathy with EF of 20% but EF has gone up to 60%, and mitro valve prolapse with leakage (? not sure if leakage is right terminology) of level 3.  Medications are beta blocker and ace inhibitor.  Would the life expectancy be shortened?

Thank you for your time.

[ether1939]

A related discussion, Enlarged heart was started.

[CCF-M.D.-CRC]

Dear Dina,
Life expectancy is a very tricky thing to predict for individuals.  As a group we can say that 39 year old women with normal ejection fractions do very well.  The cause of the ventricular tachycardia (VT) would play an important role in determination of outcome.  However, an ICD markedly decreases risk of death.  Mitral valve prolapse does not usually increase mortality directly but it may cause symptoms or long-term heart damage and require surgery.  All-in-all I think the best thing for anyone with significant medical problems is to make sure their house is in order but to go ahead and make long-range plans and enjoy life.

[lisaellis]

I was going to post a very similar question!  My EF is going up and they expect it to return to normal after full DCM, leaking valvle and heart failure. But what does recovery actually mean?  

Will I be liable to drop down dead still?  Can an enlarged heart eever be considered normal again, surely the permenant damage will have weakened it longterm?

Like yourself, I haven;t been able to find any data on patients of a recovered Cardiomyopathy after 18 months!