General anaesthetic with a leaky valve

[aussiemember]

Hi All,

Apologies if this thread has been done before. I did a search but didn't seem to come up with much. Anyway, I have just been diagnosed today with endometriosis. It is a painful condition but not health affecting as such. Anyway, the treatment the doctor recommends is laser surgery via a laparoscopy (2 key hole incisions in your stomach). This will require a general anaesthetic and I was wondering if a general is more serious for those of us with leaking valves. I don't have any arrhythmias at present nor am I on any medications. Because it is not a threat to my general health I am tempted to just "live with the pain" rather than have surgery if there is any risk. I have had general anaesthetics in the past with no problems but that was before my regurgitation increased. Has anyone else had surgery for other conditions while they were in the waiting room? What advice did your cardiologist give you? I will, of course, be checking with my cardio before I do anything but just wondered what your opinions were??

 

[Georgia]

When I needed a general anesthetic back when I just had MVP, the anesthesiologist was very concerned; required a new echo, and was quite hesitant about using a general - mainly because I'd never had one and he had no idea how I'd do. When I had another surgery 2 weeks later, they weren't concerned about the general at all.

I don't know how they'll act since you have regurg; but they'll be quite cautious, I'm sure. But if you have records of how you've done with general anesthetics previously, they'll review those, I reckon.

BTW - endo's not a fun thing to have - hope you get some relief. My mom had this and it was a MAJOR problem for her. Best of luck.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I had other procedures with a very leaky valve, but never had general anesthetic, so I really don't know an exact answer. I had two babies with epidurals and had my tubes tied after the second one was born still just with the epidural. That is a laparoscopic procedure. I also had eye surgery and foot surgery with anesthetic - local with sedation. Talk to your doctor to see if the general is really necessary. When I had my foot surgery, the doctor was going to use general, but I asked him why it wouldn't be possible to use local with sedation, and he agreed. Apparently most people prefer the general because they want to be completely out.

Again, I don't know if it would affect your valve any differently, but there are probably other options.

 

[aussigal]

Hi fellow Aussie ...

I had a Laporoscopic Uterine-Ablation done about 3-4 years ago initially for Endo but they couldnt actually find any when they got in there ..had the Ablation done anyway with fabulous results...

I advise having all this sort of stuff taken care of before you have your Valve surgery and need to fiddle with your warfarin and stuff. I didnt have any anaesthetic problems. I had the procedure done as a day-case, and I highly recommend it. A courtesy visit to your Cardio should put your mind at ease.

 

[marky]

I echo ausigal.. I had the same proceedure with fabulous results!
I also had my gall bladder removed and my ovary removed all within the past 5 years..and all with a very leaky valve..
no problems from the gen. anest.
Just make sure you get the antibiotics during the proceedure.. that was the only thing they did differently with me.

 

[dj/utvolsfan]

Hello, Just had OHS in April. About a month ago, my cardio heard more leakage..possibly from aortic valve. I refused a TEE. So I am kind of hanging in the balance at the moment....regarding leakage....Anyway, my point is I was cleared for a recent 4 hour surgery and I believe my heart did just fine.
My best to you,
Debbi

 

[aussiemember]

Thanks so much!!

Thanks so much!!

Thank you so much to all of you for your feedback and suggestions. I won't be able to get in to see the gyno surgeon for a few weeks so it was great to hear from people who had been in the same situation and to hear that there probably would not be any problems. You are all just great!!!

P.S. Georgia, endo is certainly no fun but in some ways I was glad to get the diagnosis as it explained all sorts of strange symptoms...

 

[francie12]

Hi--My son had surgery on the urinary tract (see our signature for his heart situation) which took about 40 min., all under general anethesia, with no problems. We were carefully interviewed in advance by the anesthesiologist, and he did not forsee any difficulty. When he went into surgery they mentioned that they would be cautious in giving too much fluid via IV so as not to overload the heart. He sailed through with flying colors. Good luck with your surgery.

 

[susieq14]

Hi Jeanne,

So sorry to hear you have another problem. When it rains it pours! Something similar happened to me. I needed to have a surgical biopsy done to remove a lump in my left breast (which fortunately turned out to be benign) in December 2004 just 4 months after being diagnosed with my mitral valve regurgitation and I had general anesthesia with no problems. They also gave me antibiotics intraveneously. Ironically I saw my cardiologist on December 7 for a stress echo so I was able to tell him about the upcoming surgery on December 16 and he said no problem and also sent a note to the surgeon about the iv antibiotics. Of course I thought it was going to be a big problem - I had never had surgery (other than to have my tonsils out at age 10) and was nervous about the surgery in general and of course the new news of my heart condition and of course I was terrified what the biopsy results would be.
Take Care!
Susie
P.S. Got your last PM but this week has been a zoo at work. I'll talk to you soon

 

[aussiemember]

Hi all - just thought I would update this post to let you know the outcome. Thanks to everyone that gave me advice. I had my laparoscopy on Thursday. The only precaution my cardio mentioned, apart from antibiotics, was to move the surgery from my local private hospital to Melbourne's biggest private hospital so that there would be cardiac assistance available if necessary.

I was feeling very calm about things until the anaesthestist came to visit me just prior to the surgery. He was not at all happy to hear about my valve - said that the operation was an hour and a half (as they were removing a cyst and examining the bowel at the same time) and that this could cause problems with my heart. I assured him I didn't have any symptoms or problems with rhythm disturbances but he was clearly a bit concerned. So after being rather relaxed about things I suddenly got a bit anxious. He also cheered me up further by telling me that my mouth was small and didn't open very wide and that they may have problems getting the tubes in place during surgery - I know my dentist always complains about this but I hadn't thought of it affecting surgery

Anyway, the surgery went well although they weren't able to remove all the endometriosis - The anaesthetist came back afterwards and told me that my heart was fine throughout except for some palpitations and tachycardia at the start - but he seems to think this could have been due to dehydration from taking the bowel prep mixture.

However, I did end up with some damage to my mouth - I have a large ulcer in the bottom of my mouth and a fat lip. I'm wondering if anyone else out there has been told they have a small mouth and had any problems?? How did it affect you during OHS??