As the patient transitions into the post-operative experience, he or she may find new challenges to consider. Such challenges may involve several different perceived or actual heart valve surgery complications. That said, the patient can experience heightened sensations that something is wrong post-operation. Whether it is a heart palpitation or chest-clicking, patients can be confronted by heart valve surgery complications. Ultimately, the patient may begin to generate several questions about their surgical experience and recovery. Questions include:

• [2] What are the common heart valve surgery complications?
• [3] Am I experiencing a heart valve complication that is not normal?
• Should I be worried?
  
• [4] Should I go to the doctor for my heart valve surgery complicaton?
• [5] Is there something very wrong with me?
  

Again, as a former, heart valve surgery patient, I can relate to most of the questions raised above. Recovering from heart valve surgery is, for most patients, very difficult and very time-consuming.

To better understand patient complications following heart valve surgery, I conducted an extensive online and offline survey of almost one hundred former patients. One of the questions asked during that survey was, “Did you experience any form of heart valve surgery complication following your heart valve repair or heart valve replacement?”

As you can see on the chart below, over 66% of patients responded that they had some form of heart valve surgery complication following surgery. It is critical to note that this response considers the patient’s perspective only. It does not provide a clinical understanding of what a physician may deem a true or untrue complication. Still, it is very interesting to see that most patients feel that “something is wrong” at some point during their recovery.

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