http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2007/09/19/pig-valve-replacement/#comment-9613 Mon, 04 May 2009 02:00:46 +0000 http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2007/09/19/pig-valve-replacement/#comment-9613 I just stumbled across your website and first off I want to thank you for putting all this great information together in one place! My husband Mark Dayley is 2 1/2 weeks into his recovery of his 3rd valve replacement surgery. He was born with a genetic defect passed through his mother (her father died of aortic stenosis) and was diagnosed at 3 months old. At age 13 he had surgery where the surgeon opted to go in and weaken his valve by cutting it. This allowed his valve to stretch and worked fine until he was age 29. At that time he underwent surgery again and the Ross Procedure was performed. 14 years 8 months later he had to have surgery again and this time was given a pig valve. I have seen other people on your website (including yourself) who had the Ross Procedure done. What we were told when we had this latest surgery was that the Ross Porcedure was not commonly done anymore due to the fact that the pressure on the aortic value is much higher than the pulmonary value. Since this is the case and the pulmonary valve was not made to take the amount of pressure the aortic value was made for, many of the valves failed. That was the case with my husband. His aortic valve (aka his formed pulmonary value) was not pumping blood correctly. In fact, 2/3s of the blood was falling back into his heart. This created other problems: he had an enlarged heart, a very weak heart, it had thinned out and the surgeon said it was "a very sick heart". He repeated this several times after he met me in the waiting room to tell me how the surgery went. They had to give him a new valve, rebuild his aortic root and repair his aortic arch. As I understand it, Mark is somewhat of a miracle man. They aren't sure why he was even alive. So I guess my question or concern has to do with the Ross Procedure and if it is still considered a good option for people. Mark chose a pig value over a mechanical value because he did not want to be on Coumadin (sp?) for the rest of his life. The surgeon also told us that there is a new procedure that is awaiting FDA approval where they can go through the artery near the groin (like they did with his balloon pump) and change the valve that way. Have you heard of this? It sounded pretty successful with the information I have found so far. If you have any questions for me, please e-mail me back at dayleys@cableone.net. We are scheduled to see his surgeon in 10 days. Thanks again! Kathryn Dayley I just stumbled across your website and first off I want to thank you for putting all this great information together in one place! My husband Mark Dayley is 2 1/2 weeks into his recovery of his 3rd valve replacement surgery. He was born with a genetic defect passed through his mother (her father died of aortic stenosis) and was diagnosed at 3 months old. At age 13 he had surgery where the surgeon opted to go in and weaken his valve by cutting it. This allowed his valve to stretch and worked fine until he was age 29. At that time he underwent surgery again and the Ross Procedure was performed. 14 years 8 months later he had to have surgery again and this time was given a pig valve. I have seen other people on your website (including yourself) who had the Ross Procedure done. What we were told when we had this latest surgery was that the Ross Porcedure was not commonly done anymore due to the fact that the pressure on the aortic value is much higher than the pulmonary value. Since this is the case and the pulmonary valve was not made to take the amount of pressure the aortic value was made for, many of the valves failed. That was the case with my husband. His aortic valve (aka his formed pulmonary value) was not pumping blood correctly. In fact, 2/3s of the blood was falling back into his heart. This created other problems: he had an enlarged heart, a very weak heart, it had thinned out and the surgeon said it was “a very sick heart”. He repeated this several times after he met me in the waiting room to tell me how the surgery went. They had to give him a new valve, rebuild his aortic root and repair his aortic arch. As I understand it, Mark is somewhat of a miracle man. They aren’t sure why he was even alive. So I guess my question or concern has to do with the Ross Procedure and if it is still considered a good option for people. Mark chose a pig value over a mechanical value because he did not want to be on Coumadin (sp?) for the rest of his life. The surgeon also told us that there is a new procedure that is awaiting FDA approval where they can go through the artery near the groin (like they did with his balloon pump) and change the valve that way. Have you heard of this? It sounded pretty successful with the information I have found so far. If you have any questions for me, please e-mail me back at dayleys@cableone.net. We are scheduled to see his surgeon in 10 days. Thanks again! Kathryn Dayley

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