As I write this, I am flying home to Los Angeles after attending the 2011 Heart Valve Summit. The meeting was beyond exciting as over 500 cardiologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, physician assistants and nurses congregated in Chicago to discuss the treatment of heart valve disease — including heart valve repair and heart valve replacement surgery.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting several educational videos filmed at the Heart Valve Summit. However, I thought you might like to learn more about this special event. That said, I asked Dr. David Adams, the Program Director of the Heart Valve Summit, to describe the significance of this meeting for the patients and the caregivers of our community.

Thanks to Dr. David Adams, the 500+ attendees, the American College of Cardiology and the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons for working together to extend and enhance our lives!

I also want to thank the medical device manufacturers who exhibited at the Heart Valve Summit. It was very neat to see, touch and learn about the technologies provided by Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, Cryolife, Sorin, Philips Healthcare, LSI Solutions and Edwards.

Personally, I was fascinated by the new CoreValve device, which is designed to replace the aortic valve without an incision to the patient’s sternum or ribs.

CoreValve Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (Medtronic)

I was also quite amazed by the Philips 3D Transesophageal Echocardiogram (3D TEE) which enables surgeons and their medical teams to see images of the heart — including our valves — in three dimensions, in real-time, during cardiac procedures.

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I just received an interesting question from Joanie. She writes, “Hi Adam – My husband had mitral valve repair surgery three days ago. I noticed that he’s gained 8 pounds since the surgery. The doctors say the gain is due to fluid intake. Is this common? What fluids did they use? How long until he loses the fluid? Thanks, Joanie.”

While I had my thoughts on the topic, I wanted to provide Joanie an expert opinion. That said, I contacted Dr. Larry Cohn, who practices at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. During his 40-year career, Dr. Cohn has performed over 10,000 cardiac procedures.

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Needless to say, this is a very exciting time in the development of heart valve therapies. In my opinion, this segment of cardiac care just became even more exciting as ValveXchange reported the first-in-man (FIM) implant of its two-part, heart valve replacement system.

“What is a two-part heart valve replacement system?” you might be wondering.

As shown above, the first part of the surgical system is the permanent implant of the Vitality base within the valve.

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It is an honor to shine our surgeon spotlight on Dr. Patrick McCarthy, the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

During his 30-year career, which includes training and clinical work at Stanford University, The Mayo Clinic and The Cleveland Clinic, Doctor Patrick McCarthy has performed over 10,000 cardiac procedures including 4,000 operations involving heart valve treatment. Here is a quick video about Dr. McCarthy’s ongoing pursuit of healthy hearts.

Specific to our community, Dr. McCarthy is one of the most recommended surgeons at the Heart Valve Surgeon Locator.

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Sato sent me a very interesting question about bicuspid aortic valve repair. He writes, “Hi Adam – I’m 61. I’ve been diagnosed with bicuspid aortic valve and severe regurgitation. I’ve been told a repair is possible. During surgery, does the bicuspid aortic valve become a tricuspid valve?”

While at the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons conference, I was able to ask Sato’s question to Dr. Lars Svensson, the Director of the Aorta Program at The Cleveland Clinic. As you may know, Dr. Svensson, is highly regarded for his work with bicuspid aortic valves.

Thanks to Sato for his question and a special thanks to Dr. Lars Svensson for sharing his clinical research with our community. To learn more about Dr. Svensson and his patients, please click here.

For those of you who are hearing impaired, I have provided a transcript of this interview below…

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