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Adam Pick's Blog About Heart Valve Replacement Surgery And Heart Valve Repair Surgery
 

Adam Pick, Patient And Author Of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery
Adam Pick
Double Heart Valve Surgery Patient
and Author of The Patient's Guide
To Heart Valve Surgery


> Read My Story Here


Archive for the 'Studies' Category

True or False: Heart Failure Doubled During Past 25 Years

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

It’s time for another “True or False” quiz… That said, is the following statement true or false?

The American Heart Association just reported that twice as many Americans are hospitalized with heart failure today compared to 25 years ago.

Heart Failure Rates

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Fen-Phen Guilty Of Long Term Heart Valve Damage

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

The older I get… The more I realize there are no short-cuts in the game of life. Whether it deals with money or weight loss, the “sure thing” is seldom a sure thing.

An unfortunate example… A new study published by BMC Medical just revealed some disastrous findings about the use of Fen-Phen for weight loss and its long-term side effect… Heart valve damage known as mitral regurgitation and aortic regurgitation.

Phen Fen Heart Valve Damage Drug Study

To learn more, read this interesting article by WebMD Health News by clicking “Fen-Phen Damages Heart Valves… Several Years Later”.

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.

True or False: All Porcine Valves Fail Within 20 Years?

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Two critical questions for patients needing heart valve replacement - due to aortic stenosis, mitral valve prolapse and/or regurgitation - are, “How long does a valve replacement last?” and “Will I need a reoperation?”

While there are many different answers to that question, here is some very interesting information specific to St. Jude Medical’s Biocorâ„¢ Stented Tissue Valve. According to St. Jude Medical, this pig valve replacement provided excellent long-term durability for the aortic valve in patients 65 years and older.

Biocore Porcine Valve

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Shocking Heart Facts: Women And Heart Disease

Monday, October 6th, 2008

I was just reading a rather frightening article about women, cardiologists and heart disease at the Dayton Daily News.

I was shocked to read a few statistics about the the incredibly large number of women that have cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, the annual mortality rate from heart disease was equally disturbing.

Heart Disease - Leading Cause of Death

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The Genetics Of Valve Disease… Like Father, Like Son?

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

The genetic links of heart valve disease (aortic stenosis, mitral prolapse) are fairly well documented.

As the Children’s Hospital Boston finds, “Some congenital heart defects may have a genetic link, either occurring due to a defect in a gene, a chromosome abnormality, or environmental exposure, causing heart problems to occur more often in certain families.” More specifically, a recent study suggests, “Having a first-degree relative with mitral valve disease was found to increase the risk by 2.5 times.”

So you know, my Uncle Mooney had valve replacement surgery over 30 years before my aortic surgery. And, my Grandpa Zim (who has passed on) had heart trouble which resulted in a quadruple bypass. For this reason, I perked up in my chair when I received a very interesting email from Ed in Virginia.

Ed Woodard And His Father

Here is Ed’s email…

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All rights reserved. Use of this website, Heart-Valve-Surgery.com assumes acceptance of the terms herein. All logos, pictures and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. This website has been developed and presented by Adam Pick, author of "The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery." Patient's stories herein, and the language used regarding heart valve replacement and heart valve repair, is intended to inform and educate. HOWEVER, it does not imply that you or anyone else will receive the same outcome. As with any medical procedure, results will vary among individuals, and there could be pain or substantial risks involved. These concerns should be discussed with your health care provider prior to any treatment so that you have proper informed consent and understand that there are no guarantees to healing. Adam Pick does not offer medical advice on this website. This information about valve replacement and repair is offered for educational purposes only. Do not act or rely upon our information without seeking independent professional medical advice. The transmission of this information does not create any relationship between you and Adam Pick. Adam Pick does not guarantees the accuracy, completeness, usefulness, or adequacy of any information available at or from this transmission.
Heart Valve Replacement and Heart Valve Repair