Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

I just received a great question via email. In fact, this particular question brought back memories to when I was first diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis and told that I needed heart valve replacement surgery.

The question reads, “Adam - Do you have any statistics about the success or failure rates of heart valve replacement surgery?” Interestingly enough, I have collected some statistics about how successful heart valve replacement surgery is.

However, before you evaluate this information, you have to understand that there are several variables that determine the success or failure of heart valve surgery.

• For example, consider all the variables of the patient - age, overall health, heart condition, etc.
• Furthermore, you need to consider the variables of the health care facility and surgeon selection. As I have written about before, there is a dichotomy between the leading heart care centers and the regional / local cardiac care centers.

That said, my research suggests that the short-term success rate of heart valve replacement surgery is relatively high. Thanks to the advances of medical technology and surgeon skill, some heart care facilities suggest that 94% - 97% of heart valve replacement operations will be successful.

In particular, The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center posts a mortality rate from heart valve surgery of only 2.4%.

In review of the low mortality rate, one should know that heart valve surgery complications are perceived to be relatively common among patients. As my research suggests, up to 60% of patients perceive that their recovery is impacted by one or more forms of complications following heart valve surgery.

I hope that helps answer the question about the success rate of heart valve replacement surgery.

Keep on tickin!

Adam Pick is a former, double heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. This special book was designed to help patients and caregivers better understand the opportunities and potential pitfalls of heart valve replacement and heart valve repair surgery. Ultimately, this book was written to minimize patient stress and to enhance the patient’s recovery. To learn more about Adam’s heart valve surgery book, click here.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 7:57 am and is filed under Heart Valve Surgery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Print This Post | EMail This Post.