BAVD Inherited??

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Warrick

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 26, 2015
Messages
776
Location
New Zealand
Hi, I've not long (4th Nov) had surgery to replace my leaking bicuspid aorta with a mechanical valve, I'm 39 years old. I have 2 boys aged 15 and 17 and a daughter aged 11, the cardiologist wants to scan my children as there is a chance BAVD is genetic, has anyone else had children inherit this from them or a family history of BAVD? Sorry if this has been asked before, thanks
 
Welcome to the site. Bicuspid valves are a genetic condition and are quite often passed on to succeeding generations. You will find many posts on here about BAV being passed genetically. My valve disease was due to Scarlet/Rheumatic Fever infection altho there is a small chance it was bicuspid as well. I had my adult sons evaluated and apparently they are OK. However, I have a daughter-in-law whose father and uncle have both had BAV replacements and now one of her nephews has been diagnosed with a BAV.
 
FWIW, none of my immediate family (3 children, sister, parents) had it - they were all checked. No reports of it in my extended family (cousins, Aunt, Uncle) either. While it can be inherited genetically, it can also be spontaneous.
 
Thanks, even tho my BAVD doesn't appear to be genetic from my family I have a huge family history of valve disease, my father has had a mechanical AVR 31 years ago due to rheumatic fever, he's 73 now on the same valve, his sister had a porcine aortic valve at 65 but died soon after surgery, and from what I can get out of my father his first cousin had a mechanical valve from rheumatic fever (he died after 11 years of a small internal bleed from an internal cut in the wrong place at time of surgery) and two of his other cousins all had mechanical valves. Heart disease is a sod, especially when it's there from birth just waiting to rear its ugly head.
 
None of my family had BAV - I cheked into what my gradnparents and great grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc died from. Not even heart disease ! There's a lot of longevity in my family - though my mother died at a young age 72 from a heart attack due to smoking, and drinking, heavily. My son and nephew seem fine - not that they've had echos but both have had their hearts istened to - no mumurs. I seem to be the only one with BAV.
 
Susceptibility to rheumatic fever can also be genetic, it is related to having a certain tissue type that the immune system confuses with strep virus. Haven't had the kids checked because there is not much to do about it. My sister who is a doctor checked herself and does not have it.
 
As far as I know nobody else in my immediate family had BAV but who knows? I didn't know about mine until 45 so who knows If some had an undetected bav that didn't cause them any problems and died from something else.
 
cldlhd;n861341 said:
Iwho knows If some had an undetected bav that didn't cause them any problems and died from something else.
That's a great point you've made there. Apparently a huge number of people with BAV never need the valve replacing. They can live a long life with no problems so no one might ever know they had a BAV. So maybe some of my grandparents or great grandparents had it but lived a fine long life despite it !
 
My twin brother was diagnosed with BAV after I was - we were adopted, so I don't know how pervasive it is among genetic relatives.

Doesn't hurt to get family members checked out - Good luck, Warrick!
 

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