Stress Echo

[mhubbard]

Hi all! I am so glad I found this site. It is a relief to find people in the same boat as me. I am a 29 year old male and was diagnosed with AVS and regurgitation when I was 7. I have done the yearly appt. thing since then monitoring the situation. I have very few symptoms (some mild chest pain when running is all). After my most recent Cardiologist visit, I was told I was getting pretty close to the time when I would need my aortic valve replaced (within 5 years he said). I am scheduled for a stress echo next Tuesday to give him a better idea of when. I want to be better educated about my condition and need some advice. I know about the main stuff but am curious about measurements. My Dr. talks about enlargement of the left ventricle. What is normal? What about the diameter of the valve itself? How is the regurgitation measured? What other things should I be curious about? I appreciate all of your help.

Thanks

 

[tantenay]

Hi. I'll give you my input and I am sure, many here will do the same. This is a good site. I wish I had known about it before my vavlve replacement last year.

You need to know several things. An important one is the function of your heart, which is measured during the echo and is called the Ejection Fraction. It should be between 55-80. Having said that, you could have a pretty normal EF and still need replacement. The next thing to ask is what level the leak is on the 1+ to 4+ scale, 1 being mild and 4 being severe. The size of the left ventricle is an important indicator of when you need surgery. I really don't know what size is normal, but when it starts to enlarge, surgery is not far off. I would think that with your chest pain, there would be some concern to go ahead with the surgery, but, hey, I'm not a doctor!

Many people have severe leakage, with little sysmptoms, and some have lots of symptoms w/ little leakage. It is a combination of things that brings the surgery about. I think you might be closer than you think. I would strongly suggest that you get a second opinion, too.

Continue to come to this site, and let us know how it goes.

Regards, Renee

 

[JBriau]

Hi!

The stress test will also show your blood pressure and
how fast your heart beats. It will also show if your are
experiencing arrhthmia (irregular heart beat).
Judy

 

[gary47]

I don't need a valve replacement-just an aortic root (dacron) reconstruction-I would insist on a homograft (cadaver) if I were you-they say the life expectacy is limited 10 to 15 years-but I bet that would depend on how well you take care of yoursel. No coumidin-and if they have to go back in you have 10 years or more of medical advances next time they do.

 

[McCln]

I was born with a hear murmur(leaky aortic valve) and just have it replaced with a St. Jude's valve. Be glad to be able to have the time to learn of all the information available. Even here on this board, you can get an education. Just learn everything you can before surgery. I t helped me a lot when a friend sent me here before surgery. It let me know that I was not alone and I could come back after.

 

[mhubbard]

Thanks for the respnses. With this site in addition to the numerous health sites on the internet, I am starting to learn a great deal about the technical aspects of my condition. I always knew what the problems were, just not how they were measured in technical terms. Wish me luck on my stress echo tomorrow!

Marty