Bicuspid Aortic Valve Questions

[HeartDawg]

OK ... Ya know ... I get these questions all the time, and you would think I would know the answer. I am hoping some of you can help, or point me to a good site that has some answers.

I understand that 1-2% of the population is born with a bicuspid aortic valve.

Why do some end up having the surgery and others don't? (A friend tells me that his mother ... in her late 60's ... was diagnosed, and was told that she would never need surgery.)

What percentage have the surgery?

Why do some have the surgery earlier in life and others later?

Thanks!

 

[Natanni]

Hey Heartdawg

My husband had a bicuspid aortic valve which was leaking moderately at the time he aquired endocarditis, which of course accelerated the need for his surgery, which at the time of surgery turned to be moderate-severe. I know folks will chime in here with some stats for you. Arlyss has a wealth of updated info on BAV. My husband was a weight lifter starting in his mid teens through mid twenties. His Dad is a heart transplant recipiant due to cardiomyopathy, unknown etiology so they started to follow my husband closely in his twenties and the weightlifting was stopped.

We are neighbors! Hello from the Iron Range

Ann, the wife

 

[Susan BAV]

Sometimes there will be a story in the news about someone, like a kid, who was running and their heart (or undiagnosed aneurysm) just bursts and sadly it's all over for them -- frequently they are undiagnosed BAVs from what I've been told by my doctors. I've also read that sometimes when a person with BAV first passes out from their condition, they've expired. These must be more intense degrees of the disorder. And there are less intense degrees of the disorder.

Nobody in my family had or has a bicuspid, to my knowledge, aside from me. However, there are some heart and valve issues on my fraternal side.

I posted a thread question some time ago and, from the replies, there seemed to be the indication of a possible connection to the incidence of parental smoking and the development of the congenital bicuspid valve.

Rachel, do you think a thread/poll about BAV ethnicity might be something to consider?

Natanni, my dad was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy also... interesting.

(Edit - Some other questions I've had about BAV... I've read the male:female ratio is about 4:1; but that doesn't seem to be proportionately accurate for those BAV members who post on this site. Why?

Possibly: 1) Perhaps there are more female BAV in the population than the currently accepted ratio but they might remain undiagnosed for various reasons, including the possibility that females might tend to have a milder degree of the condition and never need treatment? 2) Perhaps females tend to have a worse degree of the condition and don't live beyond an undiagnosed younger age? 3) Maybe females just tend to be more likely to regularly post on this site? 4) Perhaps the ratio doesn't as accurately reflect the general population as it did in the past -- I'm thinking of the statistics regarding females--including pregnant ones--being more vulnerable to the effects of second-hand smoking and a previous thread here that seemed to indicate a very high percentage of those of us with BAV also had parents who smoked while we were in the womb?

Any thoughts?)

 

[HeartDawg]

I've also wondered about how long it has been since we have been properly diagnosing this.

My grandfather died 50+ years ago of heart failure. It was assumed that it was a heart attack ...

 

[Teacher]

My grandfather also died more than 50 years ago of a "heart attack". Since I was diagnosed with BAV and had surgery almost two years ago I often wondered if he would have the same diagnosis. No one else in my family has BAV.

 

[Rich]

Interesting question

Interesting question

I was told I had a heart murmur in my mid teens, but no mention of BAV. I had no idea that was a symtom of BAV, but that also was over fifty years ago.
It wasn't until I 'crashed' in '96 at the age of 58 was I told how bad the valve was calcified. Several months later it got replaced.
My father's father died at 44 from a 'heart attack'. Who knows.
I do have a teenage grandson who will need valve replacement not many years down the road because he has BAV.
Rich

 

[aussigal]

From memory this (BAV) has only recently been paid more attention to(15-20 yrs), but especially in the last 5 or so years.

Back in the early 70's when my Dad went thru a whole heap of tests to investigate his high BP and possible heart troubles (he had had a stroke @36) they only really had the X-ray and stethoscope to investigate his condition with. According to my mum the story she tells of his death sounds quite like he died of an aortic dissection aged 38, unfortunately she decided against an autopsy. Both Dad's parents also died before age 60 of heart & aneurysm problems.

I have always known I had a murmur but it was only about 6 yrs ago that it became really obvious and was investigated further, both our BAV boys have murmurs. I insisted that our sons get echoed/screened for BAV.

I have passed the BAV gene onto 2 of our sons.

My Dad and his parents were both smokers, my hubby and I also smoked although I have since quit.

 

[Susan BAV]

Here's another factoid that I have never seen in print, but that makes sense. I think BAV probably clusters in certain ethnic groups, which would mean that the baseline frequency varies from country to country. We know that it is genetically mediated and that it is probably the result of multiple gene influences -- which is why children of BAV parents don't always get it, but oftentimes thre will be cases of BAV scattered through an extended family. (For instance, I believe my grandfather had it, but my father does not.) Perhaps the severity of an individual's BAV syndrome depends on how many genes or which genes he inherited to cause it.

Hi Rachel - No, actually I'd never thought or read about any ethnicity tendencies before I read your post. But there certainly could be something to it.