During his 40-year career, Dr. Larry Cohn has performed over 10,000 cardiac procedures at leading heart centers including Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Interestingly, Dr. Cohn is much more than a world renown surgeon, author and educator, he is also… a former aortic valve replacement patient.

Needless to say, it was an honor to visit with Dr. Cohn at the recent 91st Annual American Association for Thoracic Surgeons Meeting in Philadelphia. During our chat, Dr. Cohn addressed a common, patient question about preparing for heart surgery. Specifically, Dr. Cohn answered Fred’s question, “As I prepare for mitral valve repair surgery, should I maintain, increase or decrease my exercise program?”

Thanks to Fred for his question. And, a very special thanks to Dr. Larry Cohn for his commitment, dedication and pursuit of healthy heart valves. For the members of our community that are hearing impaired, I have provided a written transcript to this video interview with Dr. Cohn below.

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It is an unexpected privilege and honor to support the patients and the caregivers of this community.

When I started this online project five years ago, I never thought my inbox would receive empowering stories from so many people including Bill Easton, Margarita Easton and Dr. Allan Stewart.

Bill, 86, and Margarita Easton

To this point, here are excerpts from a recent email exchange with Margarita. As you will read below, Bill, her husband is now in the early part of his recovery. Margarita writes to me:

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In case you missed it… More data about the CoreValve, a percutaneous valve therapy for aortic valve replacement, was just released by Medtronic. As you may be aware, the CoreValve replaces diseased heart valves that suffer from severe aortic stenosis — without any physical trauma to the patient’s sternum or ribs.

CoreValve Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (Medtronic)

In this latest study, which was presented at EuroPCR 2011 in Paris, more than 2,100 patients received this transcatheter aortic valve implant (TAVI) and were followed for a two year timeframe. Key findings include:

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Sorry for the last minute notice… But, I just learned that The Cleveland Clinic will be hosting a special Internet chat on Monday, May 23rd, at 12pm (EST). The exciting topic of the web chat will be percutaneous heart valve treatments. The moderators for the event will be Dr. Lars Svensson, director of the aorta program, and Dr. Murat Tuzcu, vice chairman of the cardiology department.

Considering the recent news about the Sapien, the CoreValve and the MitraClip, I imagine you might have questions about the future of these transformative technologies that are designed for patients experiencing mitral regurgitation and aortic stenosis.

It appears this web chat could be a great opportunity to obtain answers about these valvular treatments that do not require median sternotomy or thoracotomy.

• To learn how you can attend and participate in this web chat, please click here.

I hope that helps!

Keep on tickin!

Last week, at the American Association for Thoracic Surgeons meeting, Ted sent me a great question about atrial fibrillation after heart valve surgery. He writes, “Dear Adam, I had my aortic valve replaced. The new valve is a pericardial tissue heart valve. What causes A-Fib after surgery? I had one incident of A-Fib while in the hospital followed by four more incidents two weeks after surgery. Thank you! Ted”

To help Ted, I asked Dr. Niv Ad, the chief of cardiac surgery at Inova Heart & Vascular Institute in Falls Church, Virginia, this exact question. So you know, a key research initiative of Dr. Ad’s practice focuses on atrial fibrillation. Here is Dr. Ad’s video response to Ted.

I want to thank Ted for his question. Plus, I have to offer a special thanks to Dr. Niv Ad for his continued support of this patient and caregiver community. Dr. Ad has really helped transform this resource from an ordinary website into an extra-ordinary community. Thanks Dr. Ad!!! To learn more about Dr. Ad’s practice, please click here.

For those of you who are hearing impaired, I have provided a written transcript of this video interview below.

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