Prior to the Heart Valve Summit, Wanda sent me two great questions. She wrote, “Adam – What is the oldest person that a surgeon has operated on? Is it common for the elderly to have heart valve surgery? Thanks! Wanda”

As I receive this question often — from patients and caregivers — I wanted to provide Wanda an expert opinion. For that reason, I met with Dr. Steven Bolling, the Director of The Mitral Valve Clinic at the University of Michigan. Here are the highlights from our discussion.

Thanks to Wanda for her questions and a special “Thank You” to Dr. Steven Bolling for sharing his clinical expertise with us.

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

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Emotions are powerful. They surface quickly. They alter biochemistry. They transform seconds into memorable moments.

Recently, several of my emotions — thankfulness, appreciation, humility, indebtedness — appeared during a special chat with Dr. Vaughn Starnes, my surgeon. What began as a discussion about pediatric mitral valve repair, quickly turned into an emotional moment as I stood next to the man who changed my life.

Thanks to Debbie for her question and an extraordinary thanks to Dr. Vaughn Starnes for providing me a “second chance” at life.

For those patients and caregivers in our community who are hearing impaired, I have provided a written transcript of this video interview with Dr. Starnes below. I have also included another video about Dr. Starnes, his focus on pediatric surgery and his clinic at USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.

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Jake sent me a great question relating to pain, minimally invasive surgical approaches and recovery. He writes, “Adam — I hear a lot about minimally invasive procedures being much better for pain and recovery. Is that true? Thanks, Jake”

During the Heart Valve Summit, I was very fortunate to ask Jake’s question to Dr. Kevin Accola, a leading cardiac surgeon who has performed over 9,000 cardiac procedures including 2,400 heart valve operations. Here are the highlights from our discussion:

Thanks to Jake for his question and a special thanks to Dr. Kevin Accola for taking the time to meet with us and share his clinical expertise. As you may know, Dr. Accola has performed successful surgery on many members of our community including:

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As we learned last Thursday, the FDA just approved the new SAPIEN transcatheter aortic valve replacement for inoperable patients. This exciting announcement has left many patients and caregivers wondering why the SAPIEN is only for inoperable patients in the United States.

At the recent Heart Valve Summit, I was able to discuss this important topic with Dr. Lars Svensson, one of the leading heart valve surgeons at The Cleveland Clinic. Here are the highlights of Dr. Svensson’s response to Cory’s question, “Why are the new transcatheter therapies only for inoperable patients?”

For the patients and caregivers of our community who are hearing impaired, I have provided a written transcript of this video interview below.

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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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