I just received a question from Daniel about the common heart valve problems that lead to valve repair and valve replacement operations.

Daniel writes, “Hi Adam – Thanks for your book and blog. I was diagnosed several months ago with pulmonary stenosis. The docs think I won’t need surgery for a few years as I am mostly asymptomatic. However, I was curious to know… Is pulmonary stenosis one of the common, heart valve problems?”

Pulmonary Stenosis – A Common Heart Valve Problem?

Surprisingly enough, Daniel’s heart valve disorder – pulmonary stenosis – is not one of the most common heart valve problems that leads to heart valve surgery.

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I receive A LOT of patient emails about their cardiac surgeons. Some of those emails are good. And, well, some of those emails are… not so good.

One heart surgeon who consistently receives praise from his heart valve patients is Doctor Vincent Gaudiani from Pacific Coast Cardiac & Vascular Surgeons in Redwood City, California.  Dr. Gaudiani is applauded for his warm bedside manner and his surgical skills. According to his biography, Doctor Gaudiani has performed over 10,000 cardiac surgeries during his twenty five years in the operating room.

Earlier tonight, I located a great video of Dr. Gaudiani discussing the basics of heart valve surgery. Due to the size of the video, I am going to post this video in two parts. (To play this video, simply press the “play button” on the video and please make sure your sound is turned up on your computer.)

In case you wanted to learn more about the video topics discussed by Dr. Gaudiani, I have included several links (below) which will further your understanding of these subjects:

• Heart Anatomy
• Heart Valve Function
• Mitral Valve Prolapse
• Aortic Stenosis – Narrow Valve
• Porcine Valve Replacements (Pig Valves)
• Heart Valve Leaflets (Mitral Valve)

I hope this video helped you understand the basics of heart valve surgery. To watch PART II of this video, simply click here.

Many, many, many thanks to Dr. Gaudiani for making and sharing this video!

Keep on tickin!

Talk about inspirational? I just read this extra-ordinary story at The Chronicle about Shay Richardson.  I thought you might enjoy it…

Shay Richardson is the picture of health just weeks after a life-saving operation. At just six years of age, he has undergone major surgery at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital after being born with faulty heart valves and three holes in his heart.

But only weeks after the open-heart surgery to replace a leaking valve, Shay, of Walker, Newcastle, looks like he hasn’t a care in the world as he runs around with his twin sister Ebony, who is fit and healthy.

His parents Andrew Gardner, 29, and Emma Richardson, 25, were told the six-hour operation had saved the youngster’s life. Andrew said, “To look at Shay you wouldn’t think anything was wrong with him as he’s always laughing and smiling, but he’s had a really difficult start to life and we’re so proud of how well he’s coped.

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On November 27, 2007, I posted a blog titled, “Will Heart Valve Manufacturers Consolidate And Gobble Up Each Other?”. In that post, I rambled-on about the possibility that the heart valve industry would consolidate to create advantages for both patients and manufacturers.

Guess what?

Earlier this week, Medtronic spent over $1 billion to acquire two heart valve manufacturers – CoreValve and Ventor Technologies.

In the first deal, Minneapolis-headquartered Medtronic acquired CoreValve, developer of a transcatheter, transfemoral aortic valve replacement product. The deal calls for an initial payment of $700 million plus additional payments contingent upon the achievement of agreed milestones.

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Barbara, a 57-year old patient from Georgia, just asked me a very honest question about heat valve surgery and hospitals.

She writes, “Hi Adam – I’ve been diagnosed with severe stenosis of the aortic valve. I got a second opinion to confirm the diagnosis. Now, I’m mentally preparing for what lays ahead of me. I’m overwhelmed. Just the thought of heart surgery keeps me up at night. Also, I have an aversion to hospitals. I’ve never had major surgery so I don’t know what to expect. Sometimes my brain focuses on the negative reality of spending several days-and-nights among sick people. This may sound like an odd question, but… What is the worst thing about staying in the hospital after surgery? Thanks, Barbara”

As most of you know, I consider heart valve surgery to be a medical miracle. With this belief, I started this blog and wrote my book with a single passion – to help transform patient fear into patient hope. However, this passion is not oblivious to the fundamental concerns that confront both patients and caregivers as they transition through each phase of cardiac surgery – diagnosis, pre-operation, the surgery and recovery.

For this reason, I really appreciate Barbara’s concerns about hospitals. It’s a fair question that I will do my best to answer. Then, I will offer some insight about hospitals from the patient perspective. Finally, I will ask the former patients (who regularly visit this blog) to contribute to this discussion.

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