Topic: Cardiac Surgery In The Adult - What Are The Common Ages Of Heart Valve Surgery Patients?

I must admit. When I tell people that I have had open heart surgery for valve replacement, I get an odd look.

Sometimes, the look translates into, “Oh My Gawd! You’re So Young! How Is That possible?”

Other times the look translates into, “What The Hell Happened To You?” (FYI, I’m 35 years old. I had my aortic and pulmonary valves replaced when I was 33.)

Regardless of the look (which can be quite funny), many people ask me, “Is adult cardiac surgery for heart valve repair and heart valve replacement the norm?”

Or, “Does heart valve surgery impact all age groups - from children to the elderly?”

It’s a great question. When I was diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis and regurgitation, I thought the cardiac surgery atlas would indicate that heart valve surgery was mostly for the older generations - 50 and above.

However, the more I researched the topic for my book, the more I learned that while adult cardiac surgery is status quo, heart valve defects (stenosis, regurgitation, prolapse, insufficiency, etc.) can and do impact many, many, many age groups.

Earlier this year, I surveyed 78 former heart valve surgery patients to better understand how cardiac surgery impacted their lives. As you can see in the chart above, operative cardiac surgery was needed for many different age groups. So there really is no cardiac surgery secret specific to age. However, as one would expect, the majority of patients in this survey, about 70%, were in the age range of 35-60 years of age.

You may be wondering about pediatric cardiac surgery patients…. “Where are they?” Well… They exist. Pediatric cardiac surgery is an entire surgical medical specialty unto itself. However, as pediatric cardiac surgery involves children, I chose not to interview or survey them for legal reasons.

Keep on tickin,

Adam

[1] To learn more about Adam’s heart valve surgery book, click here.

[2]