passing it on to kids

[ar bee]

im sure not the only one who had this thought:

i have a bicuspid valve (at least according to the echo), so i was just wondering whether this is a spontaneous natural error, or something I am carrying in my genes, hence something i might eventually pass on to kids?

i have been doing some www-search, but havent really found anything

can anyone of you help??

tks+well2all
ar bee

 

[Yaps]

I really cant answer

I really cant answer

for all, only my case.My father had a bad mitral valve, ended up with a pigs valve replacment.I was told at the age of 13 that I had a bad valve, my parents kept it from me for fear I wouldnt have a normal life, I pretty much did as the Drs told me ..except for echos..for a long time I didnt have insurance, by the time I had insurance..I was too busy to bother, and I am paying for that now.I also had a denial problem and did not mention it to any new drs.. if they brought it up ..I would say'yea yea I know' , so since my attacks and surgery..all 6 of grandkids are checked. My son has mitral valve prolapse and we are watcing his babies closely.
One grandaughter has had a abnormal ekg.. so after an echo, they say she is fine. Watching her closely as well.
Hope this helps in any decisions you make, love Yaps

 

[happyheart]

Genetic link

Genetic link

After I learned last year that I had a bicuspid aortic valve, I checked around with the relatives and found that both my mother's sister and one of her brothers had a two-flapper too. Each had AVR with a mechanical valve at some point during their 60s. Now approaching their 80s, they're doing well.

My two kids--21 and 20--have no murmur.

My brother and two sisters have no heart problems. I guess I was the lucky one, genetically. I got the brains and the good looks. <g>

 

[tobagotwo]

It does seem to run in some families, unfortunately. The hardest thing must be finding a good way to get your kids checked every so often without scaring the heck out of them. I know some folks here have done that, and it is mentioned in some earlier threads.

I wonder how old they'd need to be, before an echo could really be sure whether they were free of it. I don't know whether an echo would pick it up until it at least caused some turbulence.

Someone here will know.

Best wishes,

 

[Marguerite53]

my experience

my experience

Hi Ar Bee,

I don't have much to add. My bicuspid wasn't discovered until I was in my 20's. No one, to my knowledge has any similar history in my family. My 3 kids are 22, 19, 17 and I'm very concerned about them, of course, just in case. They have no murmurs at this time. I decided to alert their physicians that I have the bicuspid so that it is on their chart that their mother has a bicuspid gone stenotic at age 50. That way, if they ever do decide definitively that they can be inherited, my kids will at least have a notation on their charts. (Be aware that I am not considering any insurance ramifications and I know that those might be important, too!!)

Because of their ages, they do, of course, know of my condition. I have told them that each time someone listens to their heart, they need to mention my current condition so that they are listened to quite carefully. They also know my the symptoms that I am watching out for. Personally, I don't care if it scares the heck out of them. They need to be knowledgeable. They get into cars everyday, don't they? How scary is that??

There have been several threads already in the forum, but again, nothing definitive.

Someone earlier mentioned that their high school does free screening echocardiograms due to the increase in young male sudden deaths on the football field. That was in the South somewhere. We have no such program here in Oregon.

You might ask your cardio which comes first, the visual certainty with the echo, or the swoosh through the stethescope......I think hearing the murmur is the first clue.

Keep us posted if you find anything.

Thanks!

Marguerite

 

[Raverlaw]

I'm not aware of any history of BAV in my family. My murmur was detected at birth, and diagnosed as a BAV by an angiogram when I was 8 years old. They didn't have echocardiograms in those days, and no one, not one! of the many physicians I saw over the years (each of whom mentioned that I had a murmur) ever suggested to me that I should have regular echos to monitor the status of the valve until I went to my new PCP last October.

While there undoubtedly may be a genetic component to this disease - and didn't we have a thread where it was supposedly linked to having a hammer-toe? - there was also some research suggesting a link between the mother smoking cigarettes while pregnant and BAV in the child.

At any rate, you have to be born with a BAV - it doesn't develop later; and I would think that it could be determined pretty early on whether your child has it or doesn't have it. My PCP says the murmur produced by the BAV is quite distinctive.

 

[terryj]

Right before my husband had his bicuspid aortic valve replaced we found out that three of his cousins have bicuspid valves also. The surgeon also suggested that our three children be checked for this.

 

[katy kate]

so confused!

so confused!

Hey everyone i am new here too. My boyfriend has a bicuspid valve which he has had 4 ops on now- ive been reading you all for some weeks now so thought i should finally introduce myself...hello i am kate!

on the subject of kids...its something which concerns me a little too. I thought reading the stuff that is in the archive that if a child is born with a bicuspid valve they then have the disposition to be ill later but not nessecarly...(Sorry my ailment is dyslexia but you get the idea he he) if they take precusions ie anti biotics before dentist ect ect- do i have this totally wrong?

Oh and while im here how come none of you are ever in the chat room? is it the time difference ( im in london)

 

[PapaHappyStar]

Paper on heritability

Paper on heritability

Here is a paper I found on the subject,

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15234422&dopt=Abstract

the lesson I learnt from it was:

a) If you have non-sclerotic ( not due to age related calcification, in other words if you are younger than say 60-70 and have no major atherosclerosis) aortic valve stenosis, alert your blood relatives to get physical check-ups and if possible echos.

b) Check your family history for early deaths, the finding of bicuspid valve is equivocal, the stenosis could be due to rheumatic disease instead of a congenital defect. Rheumatic disease is rarely limited to the aortic valve, if aortic valve disease is present than the mitral valve is very often diseased as well. In countries with low incidence of cardiac damage due to rheumatic fever ( the US is one ) a finding of isolated aortic valve stenosis is probably due to a bicuspid valve. I think the figure for frequency of bi-cuspid aotic valve ( from post-mortem studies ) is around 2% with 2 out of three males.

The usual disclaimer about making conclusions based on a very cursory analysis of this paper apply here. I wouldnt spend too much time worrying about the cause of the disease but I think one should make the above checks.

Burair

 

[Gemma]

when does it show up?

when does it show up?

Jim had his tonsils removed about 15 months (I think, although he's a bit hazy with dates - could've been 27 but definitely no more!) before being diagnosed with his "bicuspid" aortic valve. He apparently wound up in A& E at one point after the surgery because his blood pressure dropped so low. They didn't notice any problem with his heart at that point. Last January, he started getting serious chest pains at night and his left ventricle was found to have enlarged to 7cm in diameter. So I guess it got pretty bad, pretty quick.
I say "bicuspid" because the surgeon described it differently - 2 leaflets were fused together with a hole in the middle of the join, and the third leaflet was too small to close the gap. Some kind of bicuspid mutation I believe!
Said that if we have kids it'd be worth getting them checked, but no suggestion as to when.
Kate, hi!! The antibiotics before dental procedures are to prevent infections in the valves which people with valve disease or replacement valves are more susceptible to. Everyone seems to be different with regards to if and when their valve needs replacement or repair - the main thing is to keep an eye on it and if things start to get worse, do something before it's irreparably damaged. There's a Sunday evening chat at 10pm our time - quite a lot on then. Otherwise think it tends to be a bit quiet. Glad you posted .
Gemma.

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi ar bee!
i know i'm not the only one who's had her kids checked out upon recommendation of the cardiologist; there are others lurking somewhere here.
thank God all is well, but there was a question about one of our girls.
neither had a murmur. our youngest, who is a dancer, was specifically checked for coarctation of the aorta (the sequence of her pulse_ radial, carotid and ankle was reversed and this was one of the symptoms). in fact, she exhibited NO symptoms other than this... she dances for hours every day and her legs didn't tire as they would with coarctation of the aorta (they said)... she was sent to a pediatric specialist at columbia who, did the most thorough echos from all sides and, fortunately, found nothing wrong (boy was i happy!!)

echos are painless and it was well worth my peace of mind....
maybe ask your cardio?
take care, sylvia