I've had two biologicals; a homograft in 1990 and a stentless pig valve last month.
Neither the homograft nor the stentless require coumadin.
Everything I've read indicates the standard procedure is to prescribe coumadin for the few days at the bare minimum. This last go around, they took me off coumadin after 3 days or so.
I was off coumadin within three weeks in my first surgery.
They used to (I'm sure many still do) will keep you on it for a few months, but they eventually get you off it.
I'm not positive, but I believe they keep you on it for a few months or longer for stented pig valves. Again, I know for a fact that they take you off of coumadin after a time. They often put these into pregnant women or women planning to have babies within a couple of years. They do so because they are easy to put in (low risk) and you cannot be on coumadin while pregnant. They also put stented valves into the elderly to avoid blood thinning complications and because they last a long time in older hearts.
Biological valves do not require the ongoing use of coumadin unless there are other medical factors which may require it.
This is a fact. I would suggest you ask your doctor if he suggests that you could be on coumadin long term because of some other medical reason? Or if he/she meant you would be anticoagulated temporarily post-op? I would talk to another surgeon if you have your heart set on a biological.
It sounds like there maybe is a little more to this story than he/she's telling you. Either they are not skilled in biologicals (no reason for this in this day and age) or maybe there is some other reason they are pushing you towards a mechanical. I do not know what they are, but I understand there are some circumstances which will not allow use of some valve types. A homograft, for example, typically requires replacement of the entire aortic root. Perhaps they are trying to avoid something like that?
Kev
