Following our last post about watchful waiting for patients with moderate heart valve disease, I received several emails from asymptomatic patients. While each email was unique, most patients were curious to know if patients without symptoms should undergo heart valve repair and heart valve replacement procedures — for conditions including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation.

Luckily, during my recent tour of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, I was fortunate to discuss this topic with Dr. Richard Lee, an associate professor of cardiac surgery. The video below contains the highlights of our discussion. (For the hearing impaired members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of this video below.)

Thanks to Dr. Richard Lee for taking the time to share his clinical expertise with our community. To learn more about Dr. Lee, please click here.

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I don’t know about you… But, when I was diagnosed with severe heart valve disease, I experienced several dislocating emotions. One of those emotions was confusion. As my cardiologist reviewed my echocardiogram, he used medical terms that were foreign to me.

To help future patients avoid a similar situation, I recently interviewed Dr. Randy Martin — the past president of The American Society of Echocardiography and Chief of Valvular & Structural Heart Disease at Piedmont Heart Institute — during the Heart Valve Summit. During our chat, Dr. Martin answered Ken’s question, “What is the most important diagnostic element prior to mitral valve surgery?”

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While at the Mitral Conclave, I was fortunate to meet with Dr. Kevin Accola, a leading mitral valve surgeon from Orlando, Florida. During our discussion, I asked Dr. Accola a question submitted by Debby about mitral valve repair.

Debby asked, “I was diagnosed with severe mitral regurgitation over 5 years ago. Now, at 42, I have no symptoms or health concerns. Is it possible that I will never need a mitral valve repair? Or, is that wishful thinking?”

Thanks to Debby for her question. And, a special thanks to Dr. Kevin Accola for sharing his clinical expertise with us!

For those of you who are hearing impaired, please find below a transcript of our discussion.

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I just received a question from Dawn about her recent diagnosis of mitral regurgitation.

Dawn writes, “Adam – Two days ago, I was diagnosed with “moderate to severe” mitral regurgitation. My cardiologist told me that surgery is likely in the next 24 months. Needless to say, I’m confused by all of this and looking to learn more. I never even knew I had a prolapsed valve. I’m curious to know what mitral regurgitation sounds like but I don’t own a stethoscope. By chance, do you have any MP3s you can send me? Thanks, Dawn.”

While I don’t have any audio files to send Dawn, the video above contains the actual sounds of a heart beating with mitral regurgitation. Do you hear the muffled sound of the heart beat? For comparison, I included the sound of a normal heart beat below.

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Similar to its mitral regurgitation tool, The Cleveland Clinic just announced a new, online program to help patients and caregivers determine their need for cardiac surgery relative to aortic stenosis.

Here is a snippet from their website about the interactive, aortic stenosis tool:

“Is surgery recommended for your aortic stenosis? This interactive tool, based on the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association Guidelines for management of aortic valve disease will help determine if it is. The tool asks you several simple questions, considers your answers, and tells you whether you may be a candidate for surgery.”

In addition, Dr. E. Murat Tuzcu, cardiologist, and Dr. Lars Svensson, cardiac surgeon, provide some additional information about aortic valve stenosis – narrowing of the heart valve – in an educational video.

I hope you enjoy this new tool for aortic stenosis diagnosis.

Keep on tickin!