Can someone with aortic stenosis still travel by air?

[nngbwh]

Interesting article in CNN today.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/expert.q.a/04/28/aortic.stenosis.flying.brawley/index.html

 

[tobagotwo]

Interesting that he's still pushing the "cholesterol causes aortic stenosis" line, although it's been thoroughly (and repeatedly) disproven over time. He's not alone. A lot of cardiologists still believe that, probably because it would be treatable if it were only true (alas, it's not).

If you can get around without too much trouble, you can take a plane. If you have trouble breathing on the ground, you'll have trouble in a jet. You're not going to jog during the flight, so your respiratory needs are not intense.

Best wishes,

 

[Lily]

Interesting. I would think she would be told by her doctors to keep properly hydrated and to do those flight exercises to hopefully avoid dvt also.

 

[Philip B]

Stenosis

Stenosis

Interesting article. Maybe I missed something, but it looked like he simply mentioned the cholesterol issue as simply one of the possible causes of stenosis. He does spend some time outlining other causes.

The bottomline that I see in his response to the question is that there would be no problem for the subject to fly unless she happens to be dealing with complications from the condition. It seems like a fairly well written response to the question.

-Philip

 

[skeptic49]

I would think that the severity of the AS would be an important factor...i.e., I doubt that flying presents a problem for those with asymptomtic mild or moderate AS, whereas with severe AS his counsel to seek the guidance of a physician is probably good advice. I haven't noticed any difficulty when flying myself.

Jim

 

[Maryka]

I used to fly as often as once a month while I had deteriorating Aortic Stenosis. The flights were mostly under 3 hours long, if that is of importance. It neither made my condition better or worse.

 

[epstns]

I continue to fly several times per year. I have noticed no issues, and my cardio seems fine with travel as long as I have no trouble with it. . .

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi,

I spend 12 hours in a plane flying internationally every 2 weeks, and have not had any problems due to this.

Rob

 

[Lily]

I've posted about this before, but as my replaced valve is closing up (latest echo finally declared it "abnormal"), I have suffered from low o2 levels while flying at altitudes in small planes and now fly with supplemental o2 with no problems.

 

[tobagotwo]

He says this:

A patient can be born with stenosis of the aortic valve (AS). One can also develop it because of rheumatic heart disease resulting from a strep infection.

followed immediately by this:

Most commonly, especially in older people, one can develop AS over time because of high cholesterol. Cholesterol buildup and the thickening of the valve decrease the valve opening's size, and it becomes calcified.

That's pretty plain to me. Except it isn't a buildup of cholesterol at all. It's 95+% hard, gritty apatite (calcium, phosphorus, and trace minerals). Many people with severe aortic stenosis (especially with a bicuspid valve) actually have great cholesterol readings and hyper-clean arteries.

He represents himself as an expert, so people read this thinking he is relating accurate information, and he is not. I find that difficult to excuse. In my book, this erroneous explanation of the 'most common' cause of aortic stenosis is even more ignorant than calling warfarin blood thinner. At least there's a common (mis)understanding of the term blood thinner.

I am so happy that I'm not his patient...

Best wishes,