Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

This is pretty neat. (Especially, for those of us wanting to learn more about human heart valve anatomy.)

I just came across a three dimensional, reconstructive image of the heart valves functioning. Unfortunately, the animation does not show all of the four valves opening and closing. But, if you look close at this 3D reconstruction of the heart (on the right), the leaflets of the tricuspid and aortic valves are partly visible.

The two, left images are from the same dataset, showing tricuspid and mitral valves (above) and aortic and mitral valves (below).

When I learned that I needed aortic and pulmonary valve surgery, I wanted to learn as much as possible about the human heart. My hope is that these types of pictures will help current and future patients better understand the anatomy of their own hearts before valve repair or valve replacement operations.

Keep on tickin!

Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery, a unique book which integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of an actual heart valve surgery patient. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.

Below you will find a neat animation of blood flowing through the human heart.

As you can see, blood is pumped through the atria into the ventricles and back out to the body and lungs.

Here is your cardiac question of the day, “Can you identify each of the four heart valves shown within this animation?”

Don’t struggle. If you need a refresher on heart anatomy, watch this video about the four heart valves and their main function (opening and closing).

Keep on tickin!

Yesterday, I spoke with a patient who asked me, “Are cysts in the mitral valve common? Do they require surgery to be removed?”

I have to admit… I was intrigued. I had never heard this question before. That said, I did some Google’ing about medical conditions involving the mitral valve and cysts.

After reviewing several websites about cysts and heart valves, I learned that mitral valve cysts are rare. I found several write-ups that emphasized this point. Interestingly enough, I found two patient cases which identified blood cysts in the mitral valve and the surgical treatment used to remove them.

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There never seems to be a shortage of inspirational emails waiting for me in my inbox.

Recently, I exchanged emails with Robin, a fellow patient recently diagnosed with aortic stenosis. As you can read, this is the second major health issue for Robin. Several years ago Robin fought cancer (Hodgkin’s lymphoma).

In her note to me, Robin mentioned something that I had never heard before - the negative impact of radiation on heart valve function. Specifically, Robin noted that her medical team believes that her stenotic valve was caused by radiation treatments used to fight the cancer.

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A few weeks ago, I found a wonderful video about the four heart valves and how they work inside the heart.

Earlier today, I located another interesting video about the heart and the heart valves. Specifically, the video clearly illustrates the anatomy of the heart and heart valves through animation.

Feel free to click the diagram above or the link below to view this video about heart anatomy.

Video About The Anatomy Of The Heart And Heart Valves

Keep on tickin!

Adam

Ever wanted to try your luck at being a heart surgeon?

Well, now you can!!!

A friend just sent me this link which lets YOU play the role of heart surgeon. It’s quite educational and… pretty hard.

Unfortunately, I failed my patient and the computer told me to call my attorney.

I hope you do better than I did!

Keep on tickin!

Adam