Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

Have you ever wondered how blood flows through the heart and body?

Have you ever wondered how your heart valves help manage the flow of blood through your heart?

If so, click the play button on this educational video to learn (i) how blood flows through the heart and (ii) how each heart valve (aortic valve, mitral valve, tricuspid valve and pulmonary valve) ensure the flow of blood in one direction through the body.  Please remember to have the sound on your computer turned on.

To learn more about the topics referenced in this video, please click the hyperlinks below:

• Human Heart Anatomy
• Heart Valve Diagrams

I hope you enjoyed this video about blood flow through the heart.

Keep on tickin!

P.S. To leave a comment, please click here.

About The Author: Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. This unique book integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of 78 former valve surgery patients to help patients and caregivers better understand the opportunities and challenges of heart valve surgery. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.

Time for a fun, multiple choice question about your heart’s anatomy! Here it is…

“How many times will the human heart beat during the average lifetime of 66 years?”

• A. 5 million times
• B. 200 million times
• C. 1 billion times
• D. 2.5 billion times
• E. 5 billion times.

The answer to the question is below the beating heart animation. Scroll down to find out whether you are right or wrong.

D. 2.5 billion times

I hope you enjoyed this quick little game of heart trivia.

Keep on tickin!

P.S. To leave a comment, please click here.

About The Author: 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 78 former valve surgery patients. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.

I could be wrong but I think the cliche goes something like, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” While I’m not a fan of cliches, I am a fan of this one - especially when it comes to understanding heart valve surgery.

Before my surgery, seeing pictures and diagrams helped me digest (i) my diagnosis and (ii) my need for aortic valve surgery.  I’ve always been a visual person but understanding the structural problems of aortic stenosis was very helpful.

That’s why I really appreciate the email I just received from Tanya. She writes, “Hi Adam - My dad is scheduled for mitral valve prolapse surgery on Tuesday. I think I understand what the problem is. He’s had valve regurgitation symptoms for years. But, I was curious to know if you had any diagrams that show the physical defect of a mitral valve prolapse?”

I guess Tanya and I are somewhat similar - seeing things helps. With that said, here are two pictures which illustrate the challenges when mitral leaflets do not open-and-close properly. The first diagram shows a side-view of the heart and mitral valve prolapse.

Continue reading this post »

I just received a question from Simone about her 66-year old father. Her email reads, “Hi Adam - My father was just diagnosed with severe mitral regurgitation. This is a very stressful time. His cardiologist rattled off a bunch of terms and numbers which suggested valve replacement. One of those terms was ejection fraction (I think). What does that mean? What is a normal ejection fraction? Thanks, Simone”

This is a great question. So you know, I didn’t fully understand the ejection fraction until I was in cardiac rehabilitation. When I reviewed my post-op echocardiogram with Debbie, the head nurse at cardiac rehab, she explained it to me.

Continue reading this post »