Magna PE Bovine Aortic Valve

[spillo]

Hello Everyone,
I am 10 days post op from having a Magna Edwards Bovine Pericardium Valve installed by Dr. Cosgrove at the Cleveland Clinic.
I am doing excellent. I had a minimal invasive incision that is the length of my little finger, shorter than a business card. I had a problem with bleeding however as a sternal wire ripped my pec muscle after closing. I had to go back to the OR to stop the bleeding. By this time however I had lost a little over 40% of my blood, just short of needing transfused. So I am anemic and more tired than I would normally be. They said bleeders are only 5% but I told them for me it was 100%. (just kidding). So although anemia makes me tired, I cannot tell my heart was even touched and I am pain free.
I am only taking 81mg aspirin once per day. I also take a beta blocker to lower my heart rate for the first month.
Although Dr. Cosgrove alone does 4 valves per day I was only the 3rd Magna valve CCF has put in. After asking my cardiologist at the clinic I asked Cosgrove if he was comfortable with it. He said yes and here I am.
It is supposed to be able to provide 5-10 more years of use over the Perimount valve. This brings it into the 20-25 yr. range.
The Magna valve is supposed to replace the Perimount as it becomes available. Of course the big medical centers get them first and I suppose Cosgrove gets about whatever he wants.
If you are headed for Cleveland by the way you will want to stay in the Intercontinental SUITES ( not Hotel ). If you stay one week a room with 2 beds, fold out couch, microwave, refrig. etc is $104 per night. Parking there is cheaper than anywhere and you will only need to walk across 89th street to be inside the clinic. It is a 4 star place. I wouldn't think of anything else unless this is unaffordable. They also have guest homes you share with families for much less cost.
best of the best.....
Spillo

 

[Phyllis]

Magna Valve

Magna Valve

Hi Spillo,
I'm glad you are doing so well. I posted a reply to your post on the post surgery board regarding the Magna Valve and will cut and paste it here as well. My husband Dick had it done by Dr. Cohn at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston (another star). As a matter of fact, Dr. Cohn had an avr done by Dr. Cosgrove a number of years ago - the best go to the best.
Keep up the good work - here's my original post which probably should have been posted in valve selection:
Hi Spillo and all those who may be considering what valve to have,
Spillo's post is the first one I have read re: the Magna bovine valve. I have been lurking around this forum since December when my husband, who will be 71 in August, also had the Magna Edwards bovine pericardial aortic valve replacement on December 18th, 2003 at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. Reading all your posts has been most supportive and informative and I decided that I finally had to post his experience so that others may benefit from it as well. He had minimal invasive surgery performed by Dr. Lawrence Cohn. We are from CT, but did a lot of research on the surgery, the valves and the surgeons before deciding on Dr. Cohn and Brigham and Womens hospital. My husband is a very active 70 year old who plays tennis daily, golfs and boats. He wanted the Magna valve as it is suppose to give better blood flow for those who are athletic. He had severe calcification, but was determined to wait, if need be, in order to get this valve which was brand new. Lucky for us, Dr. Cohn had access to the valve and used it for Dick. He was operated on a Thursday and home in New London on Monday. He spent 24 hours in ICU, one nurse per patient and the remainder of the time in a step-down cardiac unit that had one nurse per 3 patients. He was walking the halls on the second day. We stayed in New London until January 27th when he was dismissed by the surgeon and we flew to our winter home in FL. Recovery was much faster and easier in the Florida sunshine than when he was walking 2-3 miles a day in 10 degree weather. As I mentioned, he is very active and determined to get back to normal. The main distress he had after surgery was from back pain and hence sleepless nights which we understand may be caused by the position they put you in during surgery. We are home again now, but Dick has been playing tennis, golf and swimming for the last month in FL and we feel he is back 100%. He takes a baby aspirin a day and a beta -blocker which will be re-evaluated when he sees the cardiologist at the end of May. We can not say enough about Brigham, Dr. Cohn, his surgeon and Dr. O'Gara his cardiologist and the entire staff. The care was exceptional and we are thankful that we did our research and had access to this facility.

 

[tobagotwo]

Your husband was fortunate indeed, as the Carpentier Edwards Perimount Magna wasn't available to most institutions until February of this year. It pays to know those who have an "in" with the manufacturers.

For others interested in this excellent tissue valve, I offer one caution, tipped to me by my surgeon's assistant.

Most hospitals do NOT have the Magna in stock yet. They DO have older CEP models still in stock. Not that the older models are bad (they've been doing 18-20 years), but there are several improvements in the new Magna model, including a new anticalcification treatment.

So, make sure you're actually getting the Magna model, if that is what you choose. It's not your job to use up the hospital's old stock.

 

[Phyllis]

Magna Bovine Valve

Magna Bovine Valve

When first researching doctors and valves, we read a news article put out by Edwards that the Magna Valve was approved and in the article (late November, 2003), Dr. Cohn was quoted as saying he was very excited about the new valve and anxious to use it within a week or so. After settling on Brigham and Dr. Cohn for the surgery, Dick was making regular inquiries right up to and including the pre-op tests to see if the valve was available. I was very nervous that it would not be available and Dick would want to postpone surgery. Dr. Cohn said he had it, had already used it on other patients and upon completion of the surgery, he told me that Dick got the Magna valve he wanted even though he didn't really need it as the annulus (sp?) was quite large and a regular bovine valve would have allowed enough blood flow. We'll take his word for it and hope that's what he has! There's always the risk of going with something new, but both Dr. Cohn and Dr. Cosgrove seem happy with this new valve.

 

[tobagotwo]

I'm sure he did get it. There's no impetus for Dr. Cohn to fib.

The other difference, of course is the anticalcification treatment that the Magna has, and the previous versions didn't. Better still for your husband.

 

[Jack]

Edwards Announces First U.S. Implant of PERIMOUNT Magna Heart Valve With ThermaFix Ti

Edwards Announces First U.S. Implant of PERIMOUNT Magna Heart Valve With ThermaFix Ti

Edwards Lifesciences announced today that Dr. Delos M. Cosgrove, chairman of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, has performed the world's first patient implant of the Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT Magna replacement tissue heart valve, featuring the company's new ThermaFix tissue process.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-27-2004/0002161001&EDATE=

 

[Phyllis]

Edwards Perimount Magna Heart Valve

Edwards Perimount Magna Heart Valve

Confusing! As far as I can tell from going to the Edwards site, the Magna valve that they announced today used the "Therma Fix" tissue process whereas the original approval of the valve in November used the "Xenologix" tissue treatment. As far as I know, they both help prevent calcification, but maybe this is a new and improved treatment. That's the risk of being the first in line - things keep getting better and better, but when you need a heart valve, it's not quite like needing a new car! We registered Dick's valve with Edwards today and should be getting a card in the mail soon with model and serial number - it will be interesting to see if that sheds any light on the subject.

 

[Phyllis]

New and Improved Magna Perimount

New and Improved Magna Perimount

Dick received his identification card from Edwards today. It gives the serial and model number of the valve, doctor, hospital and date of surgery. Enrollment is free and they will notify you if new safety information becomes available. His valve is the Magna Perimount aortic valve, model #3000. According to the fda.gov site that I accessed, this valve was approved on 11/14/03. On January 26, 2004, they approved the addition of a post-fixation tissue heat treatment step solution prior to the Edwards XenoLogiX tissue valve processing steps with the trademark ThermaFix and identified with Model numbers 2700TFX, 2800TFX, 6900TFX abd 3000TFX. New and improved system for preventing calcification since the valve that Dick had implanted in December.