Why six months for re-op

[onset]

Does anyone know why surgeons want to wait at least 6 months from your initial valve surgery to do a valve re-operation? I'm sure it has to do with risks, but risk of what?

 

[drivetopless]

I don't know for certain, but I would think several reasons:
1. anesthesia is out of your system 100%
2. your heart has had time to fully recovery and stabilize. the surgery can set up a lot of inflammation so I would think they would want that to settle down before they hit it again.
3. Your iron levels have time to build up for a re-op. My understanding is that surgery/by-pass machine can damage red-blood cells so they would need time to be replaced so you aren't anemic going into surgery number 2.
4. Diabetes? I know that surgeries like this can trigger temporary blood sugar issues.