Beating heart surgery

[joey]

Thanks Nancy for the information I am seriously considering the tissue valve with the hope that 10 or 15 years up the road sergeons will be doing thousands of valve replacements by the beating heart system....or am I dreaming...

Joey

 

[Ross]

I don't think your dreaming but on the same hand, I can't recommend that you entertain the thought of having another surgery later either. I posed the same question to my surgeon a year ago and his answer was, "We don't deal in tomorrow, we deal with what were looking at today."

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Beating Heart Surgery is a GREAT advancement for 'some' BYPASS surgeries.

I can't imagine how they could cut out and replace a VALVE in a beating heart. Don't hold your breath!

'AL'

 

[Nancy]

Joey-

There is no way to determine what the future holds for advancements in valve surgery. Some things evolve and become routine, and some things are tried out and then decided against.

I agree with Ross, deal with the present, not what MIGHT happen in the future. His surgeon was a wise man.

The most important thing is to get your heart in good working condition.

Trust me when I say that multiple surgeries have quite a set of problems, even if the surgery itself is successful. Your body might not react to recovery like it once did when you were younger.

My husband has had 5 thoracic surgeries (3 heart and 2 lung). He's just about "surgeried" out.

 

[hensylee]

Joey, I subscribe to Dr Richard Fogoros's site in About.com (heart disease/cardiology section) and this week he mentioned an online open heart off pump surgery that we/you can watch if you want to but it is for bypass - It's to be Oct 16 and is live. Check it out if you care to:

http://heartdisease.about.com/b/a/032186.htm

He has not ever said that there is off-pump for valve surgery and I have not heard of it, but it is probably in the offing but yrs down the road, as Ross says.

 

[rcatalano]

Hi Joey,

I thought it interesting that you would be hoping for beating heart surgery. I think more important would be finding the 'perfect' valve, one that lasts forever and needs no anticoagulation. Next on my list would be minimally invasive surgery.

I had 14 years between my 2 AVRs. While there were a lot of surgical improvements, I still faced the same basic decision of tissue vs mechanical.

Good luck on whatever you decide!

 

[epstns]

Hi Joey,

My cardiologist and I have discussed his feelings about the recent trials of percutaneous valve implantation via catheter. There have been a couple of successful operations in which a stentless valve is rolled up and sent through a catheter and "popped open" within the confines of the old defective valve. These tests were only attempted on patients who were not candidates for conventional open surgeries. Although the results are not yet up to their hopes, my cardio is hopeful that over the next 5 or 10 years the procedure will become perfected. Sorry that I've lost track of the links to the articles, but search on some of the clinical web sites and I bet you'll find them.

I wouldn't delay surgery waiting for this, but if available when I'm ready for surgery I would consider it.