Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

Although heart valve surgery can be a very challenging process, my research suggests that most patients look back upon their surgical experience as a transformational ticket to a “second chance” at life.

That said… Here is Robin Williams, the comedian and Oscar-award winning actor, describing his thoughts on heart valve surgery, the emotions it conjures, second chances and more.

If you are interested, here are some additional blogs related to this topic:

• “Did Robin Williams Have Open Heart Or Minimally Invasive Surgery?” Asks Marianna
• Emotional & Behavioral Changes After Heart Surgery
• On David Letterman, Robin Williams Jokes About Cow Valves

Keep on tickin!

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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 problems, the opportunities and the realities of heart valve surgery. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.

Here’s a great patient success story about John Doss, a 56-year old Karate instructor from Michigan. Doctor Ali Kafi, Chief of Clinical Cardiothoracic Surgery, from Detroit Medical Center, performed the aortic valve replacement.

During the video, Dr. Ali Kafi references the use of a mini-sternotomy. To give you a visual comparison of a mini-sternotomy incision versus a full sternotomy scar, please consider the pictures below. The first picture shows a patient with a mini-sternotomy.

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As we have previously discussed, heart valve disease can be genetic. In my family, it appears that a gene for congenital bicuspid aortic valve runs through our DNA.

To this point, I just came across a good, educational video about two related patients - Joanne Kennedy and her daughter, Laura. Both Joanne and Laura required heart valve surgery by Dr. Patrick McCarthy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Here is a video which details their story:

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As many of you know, I am a technology enthusiast. I love seeing the ways technology can improve our lives - especially when it comes to heart valve surgery. One of the newer technologies in this industry is the MitraClip which is used to treat mitral regurgitation (which results from leaky heart valves).

Over the past few months, I continue to receive more-and-more inquiries regarding this non-invasive form of mitral valve repair. In fact, I just opened an email from Anthony that says, “I’m a 45 year-old male just diagnosed with mitral regurgitation…. I’m basically in shock… Do you have any information on the MitraClip?”

While Evalve, Inc., the company which makes the MitraClip, has been around since 1999, recent studies about this percutaneous repair device have been encouraging. On May 14, 2009, it was announced that the first 100 patients have been treated with the MitraClip system in Europe. Of the procedures performed to date, 93% were considered successful. Then, a week later, additional results published from the EVEREST High Risk Registry showed the MitraClip as an effective surgical treatment for mitral regurgitation in high risk patients.

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