On-X vs StJude: Which is louder?

[MrP]

A friend w/ Marfans will be meeting w/ his surgeon this Monday and having surgery on Thur at Stanford to replace his aortic valve (homograft from surgery 10 years ago) and correct aneurysms and dissection of his aorta. He's concerned about the noise of a mechanical valve and would greatly appreciate feedback from those with an On-X valve. 1) Do you think your On_X mechanical valve has less clicking noise than those with StJude mechanical?
2) Is there an On-X with composite Dacron graft?
3) Does anyone out there with a tissue valve (homograft or bovine) and a Dacron graft replacement of entire aorta know if one must take coumadin for Dacron graft?

Thank you for your answers.
MrP on behalf of a friend.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Call Catheran Burnett at MCRI (maker of On-X valves) and ask her. I don't have her number with me at the moment but if you do a SEARCH for "Burnett" you should find several posts which contain the number.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[Philip B]

On-X v St. Jude

On-X v St. Jude

After doing some research on the On-X and St. Jude valves I specifically requested AVR with an On-X. My surgeon replied that it would be an excellent choice if the On-X was available in the configuration I needed. The presence of a significant aortic aneurysm required a valve with a dacron conduit. He told me that the On-X wasn't available with the conduit I needed and strongly recommended a St Jude model which came with the necessary conduit. While I don't know if On-X is really unavailable with a dacron conduit (I didn't call them), their on-line catalogue listed none several weeks ago.

Like other folks who've commented here, I can hear my St. Jude click very softly. After reading a comment made by BeeGee about clicking during sex several weeks ago I did buy a Peter Pan DVD and made my wife watch it. Colleen didn't remember the ticking croc. I've been waiting and tonight Colleen finally got up the nerve to ask me if she could listen to my heart click. She literally had to put her ear on my chest to hear it. Perhaps it will click abit louder after I recover more and we can resume more of our regular activities.

-Philip

 

[briansmom]

on-x and dacron graft

on-x and dacron graft

My son just received an on-x with dacron graft for his ascending aorta. Our surgeon said that it would add about 5 minutes to the surgery for him to sew on the dacron graft. The valve does not come with the graft, but it can be done. I also talked to Catheran Burnett (you can get her number from the on-x site). http://www.onxvalves.com/Default.asp
As for the noise, I can't hear it unless I put my ear right up to his chest. He has commented a couple of times that he has heard it at night, but not a lot of complaints. I have nothing to compare it to.

 

[MrP]

Thanks for your feedback....I'll pass this information on to the patient who is currently in route to Stanford Hosp in Palo Alto.
MrP

 

[COLLEEN S]

St. Jude with dacron thingy. They can hear me tickin in the movie theater!

 

[bookjp]

MrP, I have a porcine valve with a dacron graft and no comida is needed.All I take is one 325mg aspirin a day.Six weeks post-op and everything is good so far!!!!!!

 

[ALCapshaw2]

MrP, I have a porcine valve with a dacron graft and no comida is needed.All I take is one 325mg aspirin a day.Six weeks post-op and everything is good so far!!!!!!

Jim - I hope that you are taking *Enteric* (coated) Aspirin to protect your stomach from irritation (and possible bleeding). I'm a little surprised at that dose. Most Cardiologists recommend an 81 mg 'baby' aspirin (enteric of course).

'AL Capshaw'

 

[BigOwl]

Jim - I hope that you are taking *Enteric* (coated) Aspirin to protect your stomach from irritation (and possible bleeding). I'm a little surprised at that dose. Most Cardiologists recommend an 81 mg 'baby' aspirin (enteric of course).

'AL Capshaw'

Al, I've been on .325 enteric aspirin therapy since before my CABG. They kept me on it after the valve job.

Re: the valve choices--are these the only two options? They initially wanted to use an On-X for me, but the valve was in such bad shape that it was too small (from what I can tell). They ended up using the Carbomedics, and the only one who's heard it so far is my husband, and he had to put his ear down on my chest to do it. (Yeah, yeah, cheap thrill.)

 

[Bina]

This thread is 2 years old......

 

[BigOwl]

Who looks at dates?

I give my students such grief for not paying attention to stuff like this. How alert and astute of you to notice this, Bina! How'd it end up at the top of the pile?

 

[Bina]

Big Owl, sometimes newbies are using the Search feature on the site, and an interesting thread is discovered, so a reply is posted which bumps the thread up again as active.

It's no problem at all, just good to make a note of in case some info is outdated.