During 2010, this global community of patients and caregivers actively discussed many topics that impacted our own, heart valve surgery experiences. That said, I just reviewed all 179 posts from 2010 to determine the “Top 10 Heart Valve Surgery Blogs of 2010″.

To develop this list, I used several factors including web traffic reports, your comments and your emails. As you might imagine, this was more difficult than expected. Similar to last year, we even had a tie.

So… Without further ado, here are the top ten heart valve surgery blogs of 2010:

10. The importance of second opinions and patient advocacy, revealed by Anne Shannon from Colorado, propelled “Remote Second Opinion Changes Anne’s Surgical Approach” to the tenth spot on our list.

9. We were, once again, perplexed by the lack of awareness to the patient benefits derived from cardiac rehabilitation programs — given a September, 2010 report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. That said, “Patient Concern: Cardiac Rehab Referrals Continue To Disappoint” arrives in the ninth position on our list.

8. The on-air announcement of Barbara Walters’ aortic valve replacement surgery resulted in an immediate traffic spike the moment we posted “Barbara Walters Recovering From Heart Valve Surgery”.

7.  Thanks to an email from Shirley, “Incision Site or Full Body Shave?” became a very active blog as we evaluated different patient experiences specific to this pre-operating room event.

6. An inspirational patient story about Ken rocketed “From Stroke… To Heart Valve Replacement… To The Gym” to the sixth spot on our list.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a follow-up to our recent discussion about re-operation rates, I just received an interesting question from Steve about tissue valve replacements and the potential reasons for premature failure.

Steve writes to me, “Hi Adam – It has been 16 months since my aortic valve replacement. I am being told I need another bovine valve replaced. This is not due to infection. How often does this happen? Why does this happen? Thanks for all you do! Steve”

Tissue Heart Valve Replacement

To get an expert response to Steve’s question, I contacted Dr. Junaid Khan and Dr. Allan Stewart — two leading heart valve surgeons.

Read the rest of this entry »

I just received an interesting question from Frank about heart rhythms after heart valve surgery. Frank writes, “I had a tricuspid valve repair, a Patent Foramen Ovalve (PFO) repaired and a Maze procedure performed in July.  Now, it appears I will need to have a pacemaker put in next week. I was told that my Atrioventricular (AV) node may have been damaged and I am now in “heart block”.  I was wondering if this is common?  Thanks Adam!”

Diagram of Pacemaker Implant

Frank raises a great question. As we have seen in prior blogs, several patients receive pacemakers after heart valve surgery. However, Frank’s question addresses two, other surgical considerations which you may not be familiar with — The Maze procedure and heart block.

Read the rest of this entry »

Considering our recent discussion about heart valve re-operations, often referred to as “Re-Dos”, I wanted to wish Bob Uecker a very successful surgery today. If you didn’t know, Bob Uecker — who was anointed  “Mr. Baseball” by Johnny Carson — will undergo his second heart valve surgery during the past six months.

Bob Uecker – Heart Valve Surgery Patient

According to reports, a pseudoaneurysm (a tear) happened where his heart valve replacement is located. According to his medical team, it’s believed a skin-related staph infection entered his bloodstream and got into his surgical repair site.

“I’m approaching this with the same optimism that I had the first time,” said Uecker. “I appreciate all of the kind thoughts and well wishes from Brewers fans and everyone who has reached out to me.”

Keep on tickin’ Bob!

I just received an interesting question from Alma about a critical step during heart valve repair and heart valve replacement surgeries. Alma writes, “Adam – I’m going in for surgery next week. Thanks to your book, my anxiety has greatly decreased. I’m curious… I know my heart is going to be cooled and stopped during surgery. But, will my surgeon actually put ice on my bare heart? Alma”

Coincidentally, I just took the picture below while observing a heart valve surgery last week. As you can see, the answer to Alma’s question is typically… Yes.

Ice Chips On Heart During Cooling Process

So you know, the heart is cooled to minimize its metabolic requirements and protect the heart muscle. In addition, a cardioplegia solution (which is a fluid with high concentrations of potassium and magnesium) is introduced to stop the heart completely.

Read the rest of this entry »